Rescuers yesterday raced against time to reach survivors after a devastating cyclone ripped through the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, destroying homes across the islands, with hundreds feared dead.
Images from Mayotte, which like other French overseas territories is an integral part of France and ruled from Paris, showed scenes of devastation, with homes reduced to piles of rubble.
The crisis — which erupted at the weekend, the day after French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Francois Bayrou as the sixth prime minister of his mandate — poses a major challenge for a government still only operating in a caretaker capacity.
Photo: Reuters
The cyclone has left health services in tatters, with the hospital extremely damaged and health centers knocked out of operation, French Minister of Health Genevieve Darrieussecq told France 2.
“The hospital has suffered major water damage and destruction, notably in the surgical, intensive care, maternity and emergency units,” she said, adding that “medical centers were also non-operational.”
French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, whose ministry is responsible for Mayotte, arrived on the island yesterday.
Cyclone Chido caused major damage to Mayotte’s airport, and cut off electricity, water and communication links when it barreled down on France’s poorest territory on Saturday.
Asked about the eventual death toll, Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official in the territory, told broadcaster Mayotte la Premiere: “I think there will definitely be several hundred, perhaps we will come close to a thousand or even several thousand.”
With roads closed, officials fear that many could still be trapped under rubble in inaccessible areas.
The mayor of Mayotte’s capital, Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, said that the storm “spared nothing.”
“The hospital is hit, the schools are hit. Houses are totally devastated,” he said.
Chido was packing winds of at least 226kph when it slammed into Mayotte, which lies to the east of Mozambique.
At least one-third of the territory’s 320,000 residents live in shantytowns, where homes with sheet-metal roofs were flattened by the storm.
One resident, Ibrahim, told of “apocalyptic scenes” as he made his way through the main island, having to clear blocked roads himself.
As authorities assessed the scale of the disaster, a first aid plane reached Mayotte on Sunday.
It carried 3 tonnes of medical supplies, blood for transfusions and 17 medical staff, authorities in La Reunion said.
Reunion Prefect Patrice Latron said that the residents of Mayotte were facing “an extremely chaotic situation, immense destruction.”
With about 100,000 people estimated to live clandestinely on Mayotte, according to the interior ministry, establishing how many people have been affected by the cyclone is proving difficult.
Ousseni Balahachi, a former nurse, said some people did not dare venture out to seek assistance, “fearing it would be a trap” designed to remove them from Mayotte.
Many had stayed put “until the last minute” when it proved too late to escape the cyclone, she added.
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