In Kawéni, a neighborhood located in the commune of the Mahoran “capital” Mamoudzou, “everything was taken away, everything was razed”, Mounira, a resident of the largest French slum, lamented to AFP. house was destroyed.
Two people died in the Petite-Terre sector, the small island in the archipelago where Pamandzi airport is located, east of Mamoudzou, AFP learned from a security source.
Closed until further notice to commercial flights, the airport, where gusts reached 226 km/h according to Météo-France, suffered significant damage, particularly in its control tower.
The resigning Minister of Health, Geneviève Darrieussecq, indicated on the social network materials”.
The French Red Cross sent reinforcements of personnel to Mayotte from Reunion and France just before confinement, the humanitarian aid association said in a press release, fearing “immense needs” and prepositioning reserves of drinking water and food on site.
The situation suggests severe water supply difficulties in an archipelago already subject to cuts.
More than 15,000 homes were deprived of electricity, according to the resigning Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Telephone calls, including emergency ones, have been drastically limited.
Secours populaire has launched an appeal for donations to help Mayotte, where more than three quarters of the approximately 320,000 inhabitants live below the national poverty line.
An A400M plane was due to take off from mainland France on Saturday evening with humanitarian cargo and civil security resources, accompanied by a frigate and a helicopter.
“Many of us have lost everything,” lamented the prefect of the 101st French department, François-Xavier Bieuville, reporting the “most violent and destructive cyclone we have experienced since 1934.”
According to explanations to AFP from François Gourand, forecaster at Météo-France, Cyclone Chido is “exceptional” because it directly hit the archipelago, while its power was boosted by particularly warm waters in the Indian Ocean. linked to climate change.
The alert level was lowered from purple to red during the day to allow emergency services to come out, but the prefect called on the approximately 320,000 inhabitants of Mayotte to remain “confined” and “in solidarity” in “this ordeal”. Communications with the territory remain very difficult.
