France faces a huge task in rescue operations on its overseas territory of Mayotte after the small group of islands in the Indian Ocean was struck by Cyclone Chido, acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau posted on X on Tuesday.
“What’s awaiting France in Mayotte is colossal. The island is devastated,” Retailleau said. “The state has been mobilized since the outset to help the victims and to prevent further crises exacerbating the disaster,” he added.
The authorities on the island group situated between Madagascar and Mozambique are enforcing a nighttime curfew.
In a preliminary report on Monday evening, authorities said there were 21 deaths and more than 1,400 injured, with the death toll expected to rise.
Chido struck the islands with winds reaching 220 kilometres per hour on Saturday, wrecking the simple sheet metal houses that many of the 310,000 residents inhabit.
The Mozambican authorities have thus far reported a death toll of 27 after winds reaching 240 kilometres per hour hit the country’s northern provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula.
Mozambique’s Institute for National Disaster Management said that rescue work was ongoing and the extent of the damage could not yet be fully estimated.
The United Nations’ children’s organization UNICEF said 175,000 people were affected, adding that 24,000 homes had been destroyed, along with numerous schools and health facilities.
Mozambique’s state-owned electricity provider EDM said that around 200,000 people had lost power.
