the toll rises to 22 dead and 1,400 injured, Emmanuel Macron expected on site

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“Our compatriots are going through the worst,” said Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a trip to Lyon. While the new Prime Minister, François Bayrou, is criticized for having favored the municipal council of Pau in the midst of the Mahoran crisis, the President of the Republic has promised to go there “in a few hours”. In the archipelago, the situation remains very difficult.

A provisional death toll of 22

The provisional assessment now reaches 22 dead and 1,373 injuredaccording to figures communicated Tuesday evening by the Ministry of the Interior.

But the authorities fear “several hundred” dead, perhaps even “a few thousand” in the poorest department in France.

The count is all the more complicated because Mayotte is a land with a strong Muslim tradition and, according to Islamic rites, the deceased must be buried as quickly as possible.

“70% of residents have been seriously affected,” explained Bruno Retailleau, resigning Minister of the Interior, announcing the arrival “in the coming days” of 400 additional gendarmes to lend a hand to the 1,600 gendarmes and police present on the site. ‘archipelago.

Tensions appear, a curfew from this evening

The authorities on site noted that “tensions begin to appear”, people flocking to gas stations, two-thirds of which are requisitioned for emergency vehicles.

“Everyone is rushing to the stores for water. It’s a general shortage,” explains Ali Ahmidi Youssouf, a 39-year-old Comorian who walks on the road with a few bottles in his hand.

To ensure security and avoid looting, curfew will be implemented on Tuesday evening from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

“Ensuring vital needs”

Trees uprooted, debris littering the hills as far as the eye can see, boats piled up: on Petite-Terre, in Mayotte, the decor is apocalyptic more than three days after the passage of the cyclone.

This Tuesday noon, the mobile telephone network still remained 80% unavailable, according to the authorities, and almost half of the archipelago is still without electricity.

The priority ist to ensure “vital needs” residents with water and food, insisted Bruno Retailleau, the health situation continuing to deteriorate.

Clearing operations continue: around 80% of the departmental and national network was cleared on Tuesday.

On the archipelago, the first medical desert in France, the only hospital, badly damaged, has regained “some 50%” of its activity, indicated François Bayrou, and will be supported by a field hospital from Thursday.

In order to strengthen its staff on site, the national police launched a call for volunteers “from all sectors” for “at least four weeks”.

Source AFP

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