Mayotte after the cyclone of the century: destruction like an atomic bomb

Mayotte after the cyclone of the century: destruction like an atomic bomb

Reports of widespread damage are reaching us from Mayotte after a 100-year cyclone swept across the French archipelago on Saturday. One local resident compared the devastation to a nuclear explosion, and there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of missing people.

Catastrophic situation in Mayotte

“The situation is catastrophic, apocalyptic,” Bruno Garcia, owner of the Hotel Caribou in Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte, told BFMTV. "We lost everything. The entire hotel is completely destroyed. It's as if an atomic bomb had fallen on Mayotte."

A devastating cyclone hits Mayotte

Mayotte is located in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa, west of Madagascar. Cyclone Chido, a Category 4 storm, swept across the southwestern Indian Ocean, first hitting northern Madagascar before intensifying and packing winds of over 220 kilometers per hour, according to French meteorological agency Meteo-France. It was the strongest storm to hit the islands in over 90 years.

Cyclone Chido and its consequences

Chido continued into northern Mozambique, where it continued to cause damage, although the storm has now weakened. The cyclone is the worst to hit the area of ​​just over 300,000 people in the past 90 years. It has devastated neighborhoods, knocked out power grids, damaged hospitals and schools, and destroyed the airport control tower.

Tragic loss of life and destruction

At least 11 deaths have been confirmed by the French Interior Ministry, but the actual number of victims is expected to be much higher. Local officials estimate the number could be in the hundreds or even thousands. “I think there are several hundred dead, maybe we are even approaching the 1,000 mark... given the violence of this event,” Mayotte prefect François-Xavier Bieuville told TV channel Mayotte la 1ère.

Blocked relief efforts and communications failures

Debris from the storm has blocked access routes across the archipelago, complicating the delivery of aid and hampering the search for survivors. Currently, about two-thirds of the island is inaccessible, said Estelle Youssouffa, MP for Mayotte's first constituency. "We must not confuse the villages, which are cut off from communications, with the slums, where the chances of survival are very low. Everything is devastated," Youssouffa added.

The suffering people of Mayotte

Desperate family members searched social media for news of their loved ones after telecommunications networks were disrupted by the storm. According to the website NetBlocks, Mayotte was almost completely offline for over 36 hours as of Monday morning. Mayotte, about 8,000 kilometers from Paris, is the poorest part of the European Union and has long struggled with poverty, unemployment and water shortages.

Support and rescue operations

Hundreds of rescuers, firefighters and police were dispatched from France and the nearby French overseas territory of Réunion. However, due to the damage to the airport's control tower, only military aircraft can land for now. Cyclones, also known as typhoons and called hurricanes in North America, are giant heating engines of wind and rain that feed on warm ocean water and moist air. The cyclone season in the southwest Indian Ocean typically extends from mid-November to late April.

The influence of climate change on cyclones

Scientists emphasize that climate change is making tropical cyclones more destructive, in part because of sea level rise resulting from greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019, two powerful cyclones, Idai and Kenneth, devastated Mozambique over a two-month period, killing hundreds and leaving millions in need of humanitarian assistance.

Eyewitness reports from Mayotte

Chad Youyou, a resident of Hamjago in northern Mayotte, shared videos on Facebook showing destroyed trees and extensive damage in his village. “Mayotte is destroyed... we are destroyed,” he commented on the situation.