High death toll feared in Mayotte after Cyclone Chido devastates French archipelago

It is feared that the death toll will rise after Hurricane Chido caused serious damage in the French overseas region of Mayotte over the weekend. While French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said that at least 11 people had died, the previous provisional death toll from Mayotte authorities and shared with Agence France-Presse (AFP) said that 14 people had been killed so far.

The ministry said it was difficult to obtain the exact number of dead and injured due to concerns that the death toll would increase. A hospital in Mayotte reported that nine people in hospital were in critical condition and 246 people were injured.

Read more Subscribers only Hurricane Chido devastates Mayotte: ‘Entire neighborhoods destroyed’

Retailleau’s office said he would travel to Mayotte on Monday with 160 soldiers and firefighters to reinforce 110 troops who had been deployed to the islands from mainland France ahead of the storm.

The tropical cyclone passed through the southeastern Indian Ocean and also affected Comoros and Madagascar. Mayotte was directly in the hurricane’s path and suffered major damage Saturday, officials said. The Mayor of Mayotte said this was the worst hurricane to hit Mayotte in the last 90 years.

Chido has reached Mozambique on the African mainland, where emergency officials warned 2.5 million people in two northern states could be affected.

Rescue workers and supplies are being rapidly transported to the region by air and sea, but their efforts are likely to be hampered by damage to airports and electricity distribution in a region where even clean drinking water is already chronically in short supply.

Quarantine

When Cyclone Chido hit the islands about 500 kilometers east of Mozambique, Mayotte’s 320,000 residents were ordered to isolate. Acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said after a crisis meeting in Paris late Saturday that winds of at least 226 kilometers per hour “completely destroyed” many slums in the region.

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Electricity poles were razed, trees were uprooted, and metal roofs and walls were ripped off improvised structures where at least a third of the population lived. Retailleau added that “it will take a few days” to determine the full death toll, but “we fear it will be severe.”

The prefecture in La Réunion, another French Indian Ocean territory about 1,400 kilometers away on the other side of Madagascar, said medical personnel and equipment had been delivered by air and sea starting Sunday. “We continue to evaluate the needs of emergency services and the population to organize the deployment program,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

‘Massive damage’

Acting Environment Minister Agnes-Pannier Runacher said more than 15,000 homes were without electricity, leaving telephone access even for emergency calls severely limited. Acting Transport Minister Francois Durovray wrote in

Minister of Health Genevieve Darrieussecq said that the health system of the entire region was “seriously affected” and that “major material damage occurred at the Mayotte hospital center.”

The Comoros islands just northwest of Mayotte, some of which have been on red alert since Friday, were also hit, but less hard than the neighboring archipelago, national civil security chief Abderemane Mahmoud said.

The storm flooded mosques, swept away boats and damaged homes on Anjouan and Moheli islands.

UNICEF said it was on the ground to help people affected by the storm, which has already caused some damage. “Many homes, schools and health facilities have been partially or completely destroyed and we are working closely with the government to ensure the continuity of essential essential services,” the statement said.

According to experts, Hurricane Chido is the latest in a series of worldwide storms triggered by climate change.

The “extraordinary” hurricane was particularly overloaded by warm Indian Ocean waters, meteorologist Francois Gourand of France’s Météo France weather service told AFP.

It was similar in strength to cyclones Gombe in 2022 and Freddy in 2023, which killed more than 60 people and at least 86 people in Mozambique respectively, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday.

It warned that approximately 1.7 million people were in danger, and it was stated that the remnants of the hurricane could trigger flash floods by dropping “significant rains” on neighboring Malawi until Monday.

It was stated that heavy rains were also expected in Zimbabwe and Zambia.

AFP via Le Monde

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