The inhabitants of the small island of Mayotte speak of “apocalyptic scenes” caused by the worst storm to hit this French territory in the Indian Ocean in the last 90 years.
Cyclone Chido brought winds of more than 225 km/h, devastating areas where the poorest lived in shanties with tin roofs.
“We have been without water for three days,” said Mamoudzou, a resident of the capital. “Some of my neighbors are hungry and thirsty,” added another.
Rescue teams, including reinforcements from France, are searching for survivors under the rubble. 14 people have been confirmed dead, but the local prefect said it could be thousands.
Authorities said they were having difficulty establishing the death toll due to the large number of undocumented immigrants – more than 100,000 – in one population of 320,000 inhabitants.
Widespread infrastructure damage, with downed power lines and impassable roads, is severely hampering emergency operations.
A first flight has arrived with supplies and tarps for emergency shelters, but in some areas there are serious shortages of food, water and shelter.
John Balloz, a resident of Mamoudzou, was surprised not to have died in the cyclone.
“I was screaming because I saw that the end was approaching”he related.
“Everything is destroyed, almost everything, the water treatment plant, the electrical towers, there is a lot to do.
“There is not much people can do, people are still, they have not moved, they are waiting for help, help to eat, for the electricity to return, and the water too, there is no running water.”
Mohamed Ishmael, who also lives in the capital, told the Reuters news agency that the situation there was “a tragedy”: “You feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war… I have seen an entire neighborhood disappear“.
“Hunger is what worries me the most,” Mayotte senator Salama Ramia told the French media. “There are people who have not eaten or drank anything” since Saturday, he said.
François-Xavier Bieuville, the island’s prefect, told local media that the death toll could rise considerably once the damage is assessed. He warned that “there would undoubtedly be several hundred” and could reach thousands.
Mayotte’s impoverished communities, including undocumented migrants who have traveled to French territory to seek asylum, are believed to have been particularly affected due to the vulnerability of their housing.
The Muslim tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours also made it difficult to document the number of dead.according to the prefect.
In addition to humanitarian assistance, 110 French soldiers have arrived to help with rescue efforts, and another 160 are on the way.
After arriving in Mayotte, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau declared that it would take “days and days” to determine the human losses.
The relief operation is coordinated from Réunion, another French overseas territory.
French Red Cross spokesman Eric Sam Vah told the BBC that the situation was “chaotic”.
He said they had only been able to contact 20 of the 200 Red Cross volunteers in Mayotte and echoed fears about the total death toll.
“All the shanty areas have been completely destroyed, we have not received any reports of displaced people, so the reality could be dire in the coming days,” Vah told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Other territories
France colonized Mayotte in 1841 and, at the end of the 20th century, added to its overseas territories the three main islands that make up the Comoros archipelago.
The Comoros voted for independence in 1974, but Mayotte decided to remain part of France.
The island’s population is heavily dependent on French financial aid and has long struggled with poverty, unemployment and political instability.
Around 75% of the population lives below the national poverty line and one in three inhabitants is unemployed.
Cyclone Chido also made landfall in Mozambiquewhere it caused flash flooding, uprooted trees and destroyed buildings about 40 km south of the northern city of Pemba. Three deaths have been recorded.
The cyclone caused structural damage and power outages in the northern coastal provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado on Saturday morning, local authorities said.
Guy Taylor, spokesperson for Unicef in Mozambique, stated that “the cyclone hit us very hard this morning.”
“Many houses have been destroyed or severely damaged, and health centers and schools are out of service,” he added.
Taylor said Unicef was concerned about “the loss of access to critical services” such as medical treatment, clean water and sanitation, and also about “the spread of diseases such as cholera and malaria.”
Chido is the latest deadly storm whose intensity many attribute to climate change.
Meteorologist François Gourand, from the Meteo France meteorological service, explained to AFP that this “exceptional” cyclone has been supercharged by especially warm Indian Ocean waters.
The storm has been downgraded to a “depression” and is expected to pass through southern Malawi, then the Mozambican province of Tete, before heading towards Zimbabwe overnight on Tuesday.
According to Sarah Keith-Lucas of the BBC Meteorological Centre, although the winds have weakened, between 150 and 300 mm of rain could fall by the end of Tuesday.
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