CAPE TOWN, South Africa — (AP) — The death toll in the French territory of Mayotte from Cyclone Chido is “several hundred” and may be close to 1,000, the island’s top government official told the local broadcaster Sunday.
Mayotte Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville told TV station Mayotte la 1ere that “I think there are some several hundred dead, maybe we’ll get close to a thousand. Even thousands. ... Given the violence of this event.″
He said it was extremely difficult to get an exact number after the Indian Ocean island was pummeled by the intense tropical cyclone on Saturday, causing widespread destruction. The French Interior Ministry confirmed at least 11 deaths and more than 250 injuries in Mayotte earlier Sunday but said that was expected to increase substantially.
Mayotte in the southeastern Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa is France’s poorest island and the poorest territory in the European Union. Bieuville said the worst devastation had been seen in the slums of metal shacks and informal structures that mark much of Mayotte.
Referring to the official death toll so far, he said ″this figure is not plausible when you see the images of the slums."
Chido blew through the southeastern Indian Ocean on Friday and Saturday, also battering the nearby islands of Comoros and Madagascar. It has now made landfall in Mozambique on the African mainland.
Mayotte was directly in the cyclone's path and suffered extensive damage on Saturday, officials said. The local prefect said it was the worst cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Saturday night after an emergency meeting in Paris that there were fears that the death toll in Mayotte "will be high" and the island had been devastated. Prime Minister François Bayrou, who took office on Friday, said public infrastructure had been severely damaged or destroyed, including the main hospital and the airport.
Chido brought winds in excess of 220 kph (136 mph), according to the French weather service, making it a category 4 cyclone, the second strongest on the scale.
Mayotte has a population of just over 300,000 spread over two main islands. In some parts, entire neighborhoods of metal shacks and huts were flattened, while residents reported many trees had been uprooted, boats flipped or sunk and the electricity supply knocked out.
Chad Youyou, a resident in Hamjago in the north of the island, posted videos on Facebook showing the extensive damage in his village and across the surrounding fields and hills, where almost every tree had been levelled.
“Mayotte is destroyed … we are destroyed,” he said.
Rescuers and firefighters were sent from France and the nearby French territory of Reunion and supplies were also rushed in on military aircraft and ships. Damage to the airport's control tower meant only military aircraft were able to fly in.
Patrice Latron, the prefect of Reunion, said authorities aim to establish an air and sea bridge from Reunion to Mayotte. About 800 more rescuers were to be sent in the coming days and more than 80 tons of supplies had been flown in or were on their way by ship. Some of the priorities were restoring electricity and access to drinking water, Latron said.
The French Interior Ministry said 1,600 police and gendarmerie officers have been deployed to “help the population and prevent potential looting.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was closely monitoring the situation, while Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims of the cyclone while on a visit Sunday to the French Mediterranean island of Corsica.
Chido continued its eastern trajectory and into northern Mozambique, while farther inland landlocked Malawi and Zimbabwe warned they might have to evacuate people because of flooding.
In Mozambique, UNICEF said Cabo Delgado province, home to around 2 million people, was the first region to be hit and many homes, schools and health facilities have been partially or completely destroyed.
UNICEF Mozambique spokesman Guy Taylor said that communities faced the prospect of being cut off from schools and health facilities for weeks and Mozambique authorities warned there was a high danger of landslides.
December through to March is cyclone season in the southeastern Indian Ocean and southern Africa has been pummeled by a series of strong ones in recent years. Cyclone Idai in 2019 killed more than 1,300 people in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Cyclone Freddy left more than 1,000 dead across several countries last year.
The cyclones bring the risk of flooding and landslides, but also stagnant pools of water may later spark deadly outbreaks of the waterborne disease cholera as well as dengue fever and malaria.
Studies say the cyclones are getting worse because of climate change. They can leave poor countries in southern Africa, which contribute a tiny amount to global warming, having to deal with large humanitarian crises, underlining their call for more help from rich nations to deal with the impact of climate change.
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Corbet reported from Paris.
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