CAPE TOWN – France used ships and military aircraft to rush rescuers and supplies to Mayotte on Monday after the tiny French island territory off Africa was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century. Authorities fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died.
Survivors wandered through streets littered with debris, searching for water and shelter, after Cyclone Chido leveled entire neighborhoods on Saturday when it hit Mayotte, the poorest territory of France and, by extension, the European Union.
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French President Emmanuel Macron said he will declare a national mourning period and planned to visit in the coming days after “this tragedy that has shaken each of us.”
Mayotte resident Fahar Abdoulhamidi described the aftermath as chaotic. In Mamoudzou, the capital, destruction was total — schools, hospitals, restaurants and offices were in ruins. Roofs were ripped from homes, and palm trees were half-shorn from winds that exceeded 220 kph (136 mph), according to the French weather service.
“Mayotte is totally devastated,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said, with the ministry estimating 70% of the population was gravely affected.
As of Monday evening, the ministry confirmed 21 deaths at hospitals, with 45 people in critical condition. But French Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq warned that any estimates were likely major undercounts “compared to the scale of the disaster.”
Electricity was down across the archipelago, with only the capital spared. Telecommunications were severely disrupted, with most antennas knocked out of service. Authorities were concerned about a shortage of drinking water.
The French Red Cross described the devastation as “unimaginable” and said rescuers were still searching for bodies. The damage, including to Mayotte’s sole airport, has left some areas inaccessible to emergency teams.
Many people ignored the cyclone warnings in the 24 hours before the storm hit, underestimating its power.
“Nobody believed it would be that big,” Abdoulhamidi told The Associated Press by phone. “Those who live in bangas stayed in despite the cyclone, fearing their homes would be looted,” he said, referring to the island’s informal settlements.
Even worse, many migrants avoided shelters out of fear of deportation, Abdoulhamidi said.
Mayotte is a densely populated archipelago between Madagascar and the African continent of more than 320,000 people, according to the French government. Most residents are Muslim and French authorities have estimated another 100,000 migrants live there from as far away as Somalia.
“There’s no water, no electricity. Hunger is starting to rise. It’s urgent that aid arrives, especially when you see children, babies, to whom we have nothing concrete to offer,” Mayotte Sen. Salama Ramia told BFM-TV.
Chido was a category 4 cyclone, the second strongest on the scale, and the worst to hit Mayotte since the 1930s, Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville, the top French government official in the island group, told Mayotte la 1ere.
Bieuville on Sunday asserted that the death toll was several hundred people and could even be in the thousands. But he added it would be extremely hard to count the deaths and many might never be recorded, in part because of the Muslim tradition of burying people within 24 hours.
Rescue teams and supplies have been sent from France and Reunion. Daily airlifts are delivering 20 tons of water and food to address urgent needs, Retailleau said.
Mayotte’s airport remained closed to civilian flights after its control tower was heavily damaged and was not expected to reopen until at least Thursday, authorities said.
Mayotte’s main hospital suffered extensive water damage to the surgery, intensive care, emergency and maternity departments, according to Darrieussecq, the health minister. Retailleau said a field hospital will arrive on Thursday.
The Interior Ministry said 1,500 additional personnel, including 800 civilian and military security teams, were being sent deployed, including 400 gendarmes and engineers for infrastructure repair.
The ministry said additional police and gendarmerie officers would “help the population and prevent potential looting.”
Mayotte’s people have previously said their archipelago suffers from underinvestment and neglect by the French government. Around three-quarters of the population lives in poverty, with a median annual disposable income roughly one-eighth that of the Paris metropolitan area, according to the French statistics agency INSEE.
The territory has also faced political unrest and rising support for the far-right National Rally party, reflecting deep dissatisfaction with the political status quo. Last year, the French army moved to quell protests after a drought and mismanagement led to water shortages.
After pummeling Mayotte, Cyclone Chido continued west and made landfall Sunday in Mozambique, where it killed three people, injured 34 and destroyed classrooms in four schools. In neighboring Malawi, Chido killed two people.
December through to March is cyclone season in the southwestern Indian Ocean, and southern Africa has been hammered in recent years. Cyclone Idai in 2019 killed more than 1,300 people, mostly in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Cyclone Freddy left more than 1,000 dead across several countries in the Indian Ocean and southern Africa last year.
The European Parliament observed a minute of silence Monday for Chido's victims, with the chamber's President Roberta Metsola saying “Mayotte is Europe, and Europe will not abandon you."
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Adamson reported from Paris and Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. Associated Press writers Tom Nouvian in Paris and Monika Pronczuk in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.