Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte, one of France’s poorest territories in the Indian Ocean. The island’s top official, François-Xavier Bieuville, said, “Hundreds of people have lost their lives and the death toll could be in the thousands.”
Mayotte is a poor French island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and it’s in the throes of one of the worst disasters in history. Last weekend, the island was hit directly by the tropical cyclone Cyclone Chido, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. The governor of the island, François-Xavier Bieuville, said the number of dead had surpassed several hundred and might reach thousands, noting that the total scale of the disaster remained unknown.
“With the magnitude of this event, the death numbers may not be limited to the hundreds. They could number in the thousands,” Bieuville said on Mayotte’s local television. Cyclone Chido was the most powerful storm to strike Mayotte in 90 years, he said, adding that the full extent of the damage was not yet determined.
Of the 11 people killed in the storm so far and over 250 people injured, according to the French Interior Ministry, the government has warned the numbers are likely to increase significantly.
The hardest-hit neighborhoods in Mayotte were the poorer areas, particularly slum towns with metal shacks. “The official data is unrealistic when you see the images emerging from these places. The human toll could be considerably greater,” Bieuville said.
Cyclone Chido tore through Mayotte, with winds over 220 km/h (Category 4). The island’s infrastructure, airport, and power lines, had taken a major hit. After Mayotte, Chido continued toward Mozambique, where it endangered more than 2 million people.
France dispatched emergency teams to Mayotte following the disaster. Planes and ships from Reunion Island transported over 80 tons of aid. Only military airplanes can land since the airport’s control tower has been damaged.
Patrice Latron, the governor of Reunion, said plans were being drawn up for an air and sea bridge with Mayotte, that more than 800 rescue workers were to be sent, and that restoring electricity and clean water was a priority.
The French Interior Ministry has deployed 1,600 police and gendarmerie units there. Some of these groups are providing public safety, others are guarding against potential looting.
Cyclone Chido made landfall after Mayotte, hitting the Comoros and Madagascar. In Mozambique, homes, schools, and health centers were damaged, particularly in Cabo Delgado province. UNICEF said the people in these regions might remain for weeks without critical services.
According to Al-Jazeera, 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 recent years, increasingly powerful tropical cyclones have struck the Indian Ocean and southern Africa. Experts say climate change is making them both more frequent and more devastating. Even though they contribute little to the climate crisis, poor countries are struggling to contend with large humanitarian disasters.
