Several hundred people could have been killed the strongest cyclone The disaster struck the Mayotte archipelago in the French Indian Ocean in nearly a century, according to a senior French official on the ground.
“I think it will certainly be several hundred, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousand,” Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said on local media channel Mayotte La 1ere on Sunday.
The French Interior Ministry said it would be “difficult to count all the victims” and a number could not be determined at this time.
Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte overnight on Saturday, weather agency Meteo-France said. Winds of more than 200 km/h (124 miles per hour) caused damage to homes, government buildings and a hospital. The meteorologist said it was the strongest storm to hit the islands in more than 90 years.
“Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are in the middle of a nuclear war… I saw a whole neighborhood disappear,” Mohamed Ishmael, a resident of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, told the news agency by telephone Reuters.
According to the French Interior Ministry, more than 100,000 illegal migrants live in Mayotte, an area off the coast of Africa.
According to authorities, it was difficult to determine the exact death toll following the cyclone, which also raised concerns about access to food, water and sanitation.
Located almost 8,000 km (5,000 miles) from Paris, Mayotte is significantly poorer than the rest of France. It has struggled with gang violence and social unrest for decades.
More than three quarters of the people in Mayotte live below the French poverty line. Tensions were exacerbated by a water shortage earlier this year.
The government announced that an airlift would be established from the island of La Réunion, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar.
The disaster is the first challenge for Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, days after President Emmanuel Macron appointed him following the collapse of the previous government.
The cyclone continued to hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, but the full extent of the impact was unclear.
In the Comoros, authorities said two people were slightly injured, 24 were displaced and 21 houses were destroyed.
France colonized Mayotte in 1843 and annexed the entire archipelago, including the Comoros, in 1904.
In a referendum in 1974, 95 percent supported secession, but 63 percent in Mayotte voted to remain French. Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli declared their independence in 1975. Mayotte is still governed from Paris.
