Cyclone Chido devastates Mayotte: hundreds feared dead!

Cyclone Chido devastates Mayotte: hundreds feared dead!

A catastrophe of unimaginable proportions has struck the French island of Mayotte! The devastating cyclone Chido, which brought the strongest winds in almost a century of over 200 km/h, hit the region on Saturday night. According to senior French official Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the death toll could be in the hundreds, if not thousands. “I think we will certainly reach several hundred, maybe even a thousand,” he expressed concern in an interview with local broadcaster Mayotte La 1ere.

The French Interior Minister has already warned that it will be “difficult to record all the victims,” and an exact number cannot be given at this time. The destruction is enormous: residential buildings, government buildings and even a hospital were badly damaged. The people of Mayotte are facing a humanitarian crisis as access to food, water and sanitation is severely limited.

A picture of horror

"What we are experiencing is a tragedy. It feels like waking up after a nuclear war... I saw a whole neighborhood disappear," Mamoudzou resident Mohamed Ishmael said in a shocked interview with the Reuters news agency. The island, located almost 8,000 km from Paris, is not only geographically isolated but also struggles with extreme poverty. Over three quarters of the population live below the French poverty line, and social tensions have worsened in recent years due to water shortages.

The situation is complicated by the presence of more than 100,000 undocumented migrants living in this region. Authorities are faced with the challenge of determining the exact death toll as the population's plight becomes increasingly urgent. The French government has already set up an airlift from Reunion Island to provide assistance.

Political challenges

This disaster also represents a first major challenge for the new Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, appointed just a few days ago by President Emmanuel Macron after the previous government failed. While the island of Mayotte is suffering from the effects of the cyclone, the storm has also reached northern Mozambique, where the effects are still unclear. In the Comoros, two people were slightly injured, 24 people were left homeless and 21 houses were destroyed.

Mayotte's history is marked by its colonial past and political turbulence. France annexed the island in 1904, and although a 1974 referendum showed a majority in favor of Comoros independence, the people of Mayotte chose to remain French. This complex history has shaped the region to this day and makes the current crisis even more tragic.