Hundreds Feared Dead In Cyclone Hitting French Territory Of Mayotte

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Corresoondent Worthy News

MAMOUDZOU (Worthy News) – At least hundreds and “perhaps several thousand” people are feared dead after the worst cyclone in almost a century ripped through the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, officials said Sunday.

Witnesses said that Saturday’s violent monster storm, named Cyclone Chido, caused “apocalyptic scenes” across France’s poorest islands and the European Union’s most impoverished territory.

Footage seen by Worthy News showed Chido uprooting trees, tearing houses apart, and pounding the impoverished archipelago’s already weak infrastructure.

Initially, 14 were reported dead in Mayotte, but the island’s prefect, Francois-Xavier Bieuville, feared it was many times more. “I think there will be definitely several hundred; perhaps we will come close to a thousand or even several thousand,” Bieuville told local broadcasters.

“It will take several days” to establish the full death toll, but “we fear that it is heavy,” he added.

There were concerns the actual death toll may be difficult to ascertain given that most residents are Muslims who traditionally bury their dead within 24 hours.

Many died at home as Mayotte’s 320,000 residents had been ordered into lockdown on Saturday when Chido bore down on the islands, bringing winds of at least 226 kilometers an hour (140 miles per hour), authorities confirmed.

AERIAL FOOTAGE

Aerial footage shared by French security forces showed the wreckage of hundreds of makeshift houses strewn across the hills of one of Mayotte’s islands, which attracted illegal immigration from nearby Comoros.

France’s interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, would travel to Mayotte on Monday, his office said, alongside 160 soldiers and firefighters to join the 110 rescue workers already on the islands.

Additionally, officials in Réunion, another French Indian Ocean territory about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) away, said medical personnel and equipment were on the way by air and sea.

Worthy News learned that a first aid plane landed in Mayotte at about 3:30 p.m. local time on Sunday with three tonnes of medical supplies, blood for transfusions, and 17 medical staff. Two military aircraft were due to follow.

A navy patrol ship was also to depart Réunion with personnel and equipment, including for the electricity supplier EDF.

The prefect of Réunion, Patrice Latron, said authorities aimed to establish an air and sea bridge to Mayotte. About 800 more rescuers would be sent in the coming days, and more than 80 tonnes of supplies were flown in or on their way by ship. Priorities included restoring electricity and access to drinking water, he added.

Rescuers also faced an uphill battle to reach possible injured survivors in the area located on the coast of Southeastern Africa, between Northwestern Madagascar and Northeastern Mozambique.

SEVERAL ISLANDS

Mayotte consists of a main island, Grande-Terre (or Maore), a smaller island, Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi), and several islets around these two, underscoring the extensive task ahead for emergency personnel.

Beyond Mayotte, the intense tropical cyclone, which made landfall in Mozambique on Sunday, could affect 2.5 million people in the north of the country.

A spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) confirmed that Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province, home to 2 million people, had been hit. According to UNICEF, many homes, schools, and health facilities had been partly or completely destroyed.

Cyclone season in the region runs from December to March, and experts say parts of the southeastern Indian Ocean and southern Africa have been hit by a series of strong hurricanes in recent years.

Cyclone Idai killed more than 1,300 people in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe in 2019. Cyclone Freddy left more than 1,000 dead across several countries last year.

According to relief agencies, cyclones bring the risk of flooding and landslides, but they also create stagnant pools of water that may later cause deadly outbreaks of cholera, dengue fever, and malaria.

There has been debate about whether people played a role in the situation. Several scientists publicly said “human-caused climate change” played a role, while other experts viewed it as a natural phenomenon.

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