Hundreds feared dead on France’s Mayotte after Cyclone Chido

Several hundred people may have been killed when the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, according to a senior local French official.

“I think there will certainly be several hundreds, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousands,” prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said on the local media channel Mayotte La 1ere on Sunday.

The French Ministry of Interior said “it will be difficult to account for all victims” and a figure could not be determined at this stage.

Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte overnight on Saturday, Meteo-France, the weather agency, said, with winds of more than 200km/h (124mph), damaging housing, government buildings and a hospital. The forecaster said it was the strongest storm in more than 90 years to hit the islands.

“Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war … I saw an entire neighbourhood disappear,” Mohamed Ishmael, a resident of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, told the Reuters news agency by phone.

More than 100,000 undocumented migrants live in Mayotte, a territory off the coast of Africa, according to the French Interior Ministry.

It was difficult to ascertain the precise death toll after the cyclone, which also raised concerns about access to food, water and sanitation, authorities said.

Located nearly 8,000km (5,000 miles) from Paris, Mayotte is significantly poorer than the rest of France and has grappled with gang violence and social unrest for decades.

More than three-quarters of the people in Mayotte live below the French poverty line. Tensions were stoked earlier this year by a water shortage.

An air bridge was being put in place from Reunion Island, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar, the government said.

The disaster is the first challenge faced by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, days after President Emmanuel Macron appointed him following the collapse of the previous government.

The cyclone went on to hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, but the full extent of the impact was not clear.

In Comoros, two people were slightly injured, 24 displaced, and 21 homes were destroyed, authorities said.

France colonised Mayotte in 1843 and annexed the whole archipelago, including Comoros, in 1904.

In a 1974 referendum, 95 percent backed separation but 63 percent on Mayotte voted to stay French. Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli declared independence in 1975. Mayotte is still ruled from Paris.