French military aid begins to arrive in cyclone-hit Mayotte

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Emergency workers scrambled on Monday to restore basic services in the French overseas territory of Mayotte, where hundreds or even thousands of people are feared dead in the most powerful cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean island in nearly a century.

French authorities said sea and air operations were underway to transport goods and relief equipment, French authorities said late Sunday after Cyclone Chido slammed into the islands with winds of more than 200 km/h (124 mph).

“The first intervention planes arrive in Mayotte to provide emergency assistance in the face of the damage caused by the cyclone. The state is fully mobilized to support the people of Mayotte in this ordeal,” said Nicolas Daragon, France’s Minister of Everyday Security. X.

The extent of casualties and physical damage on the islands, which lie between Madagascar and Mozambique, remains unclear.

Mayotte Prefect Francois-Xavier Beauville said on Sunday that the death toll “will definitely be several hundred, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousand”.

Authorities have also established an airlift between Mayotte and Reunion Island, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar, said Sébastien Lecornu, France’s armed forces minister.

“To accommodate the emergency services, there are three structures on site capable of accommodating 150 people and an additional one is now ready,” Lecornu said late Sunday, adding that military rations and generators were also being provided.

The French meteorological service said the storm was the strongest to hit Mayotte in more than 90 years. One resident on Sunday compared the scene to a nuclear apocalypse.

According to images from local media and the French gendarmerie, the wreckage of hundreds of makeshift homes was strewn across hillsides, coconut trees crashed into building roofs and hospital corridors were flooded.

Located nearly 8,000 km (5,000 miles) from Paris, Mayotte is a major destination for illegal immigrants from the neighboring Comoros Islands. It is much poorer than the rest of France and has struggled with gang violence and social unrest for decades.

France colonized Mayotte in 1843 and annexed the four major islands of the Comoros archipelago in 1904. The rest of the archipelago voted for independence in a referendum in 1974, but Mayotte chose to remain under French control.

(This story has been revised to correct the spelling of the word “cyclone” in the headline)

(Reporting by Ammu Kannampilly; Editing by Aaron Ross and Lincoln Fist.)