French President Emmanuel Macron is planning a visit to Mayotte, a small group of islands in the Indian Ocean, following the devastating effects of Cyclone Chido in the French overseas territory.
Macron, in a post on Monday evening on X, said he intends to make the trip in the coming days “to support our fellow citizens, the officials and emergency services.” He also plans to declare a national mourning.
In a preliminary report on Monday evening, authorities said there were 21 deaths and more than 1,400 injured, the broadcaster France Info reported.
The final death toll is expected to be confirmed only after several days. On Sunday evening, the local prefect François-Xavier Bieuville mentioned that there could be hundreds, if not a thousand deaths.
Cyclone Chido swept over Mayotte on Saturday with storm gusts reaching speeds of over 220 kilometres per hour, leaving a trail of destruction. Many impoverished homes were destroyed. Thousands of households are without power, and there are also issues with the water supply and telephone network. Roads are blocked, and some areas are cut off from the outside world.
The French overseas territory of Mayotte is located in the Indian Ocean between the coast of the south-eastern African country of Mozambique and the island nation of Madagascar.
About 310,000 people live on the archipelago. Cyclone Chido swept over Mayotte on Saturday with gusts of more than 220 kilometres per hour, leaving a trail of devastation.
Rescuers in the overseas territory urgently searched for survivors on Monday.
Colonel Alexandre Jouassard from the Interministerial Crisis Centre told France 2 public television channel that there is still hope of finding people alive. “The coming hours are very important. We have deployed teams specialized in searching through rubble,” Jouassard said.
Even several days after the storm, victims can still be found, he said, adding, “This is our priority.”
Meanwhile, local health-care provision is challenging. France’s acting Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq described the situation on France 2 as “greatly deteriorated, with a severely damaged hospital and non-functional health centres.”
She stressed the need for vigilance regarding communicable diseases, which could arise from the consumption of contaminated water or spoiled food.
Since hitting Mayotte, Chido has made its way to Mozambique on the African mainland, where the storm reached speeds of up to 240 kilometres per hour.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), it destroyed and damaged numerous homes, schools and health facilities in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.