Nearly 1,000 feared dead after cyclone devastates French territory of Mayotte

PARIS – Emergency workers raced on Dec 16 to find survivors and restore services to the French overseas territory of Mayotte, where hundreds or even up to a thousand are feared dead from the worst cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean islands in nearly a century.

Parts of the islands, which were struck by Cyclone Chido over the weekend with winds of more than 200kmh, remained inaccessible to rescue workers on Dec 16, said French civil security spokesman Alexandre Jouassard.

“The next minutes and hours are very important,” he told France 2 TV. “We are used to working in these conditions, and a few days after, you have pockets of survivors.”

French President Emmanuel Macron was due to hold an emergency meeting about Mayotte on Dec 16, France’s BFMTV reported.

The storm was the strongest to strike Mayotte in more than 90 years, French weather service Meteo France said.

It has a population of about 321,000 and is made up of two main islands over an area about twice the size of Washington in the US.

The wreckage of hundreds of makeshift houses was strewn across hillsides.

Coconut trees had crashed through building roofs and hospital corridors were flooded, according to images from local media and the French gendarmerie.

“It was the wind, the wind blowing, and I was panicked. I screamed, ‘We need help! We need help!’ I was screaming because I could see the end coming for me,” said Mr John Balloz, who lives in the capital Mamoudzou.

Residents told French television stations that, with water supplies cut, they queued outside grocery stores on Dec 16 in search of bottled water and basic provisions.

Full toll unknown

After Mayotte, Chido made landfall in northern Mozambique. It quickly weakened and was reclassified as a tropical storm on Dec 15 but still destroyed several houses, the authorities said.

The full extent of casualties and damage in Mayotte, which lies between Mozambique and Madagascar, remained unclear.

The prefect of Mayotte, Mr Francois-Xavier Bieuville, said at the weekend that the number of deaths would definitely be in the hundreds and possibly several thousands.

Establishing the toll was made harder as some people quickly buried loved ones in accordance with Muslim tradition.

Images from Mayotte showed boats upended, cars buried under rubble and people cowering under tables when the cyclone hit.

Located nearly 8,000km from Paris, Mayotte is a major destination for undocumented immigrants from nearby Comoros.

It is significantly poorer than the rest of France: Three in four people live below France’s national poverty rate.

Maritime and aerial operations were under way to transport relief supplies and equipment, including from Reunion Island, another French overseas territory, the French authorities said.

Airport closed

Mayotte’s main airport, however, remained closed to civilian flights on the morning of Dec 16, according to Mr Jean-Paul Bosland, president of France’s national firefighters’ federation.

Medical responders were struggling.

French Health Minister Genevieve Darrieussecq told BFMTV that flood waters had been drained from Mayotte’s central hospital, but that the conditions there were still difficult.

She said 100 health reservists were being deployed to Mayotte.

Mr Eric Coquerel, who leads the French Parliament’s finance committee, said the destruction in Mayotte laid bare a failure to prepare for the consequences of climate change.

“Living conditions (in Mayotte) are completely unsanitary for many,” he told French broadcaster LCI. “It was evident that... when a cyclone hit... we would find ourselves in a situation.”

Extreme weather events have become more common worldwide, in keeping with global warming.

Poorer nations often say they are bearing the brunt of the environmental crisis, despite historically emitting far less carbon dioxide than richer countries. REUTERS