“It’s apocalyptic, it looks like Hiroshima. All of Mayotte is razed. » Present on the island with her family since 2020, Olivia Renaud experienced the passage of Cyclone Chido. “No one expected such a blast. It started on the night of Friday the 13th to Saturday the 14th (December 2024, Editor’s note) around two in the morning, with heavy rain and wind. Around 10 a.m., the wind increased in intensity with gusts of more than 280 km/hour. We could see the walls moving,” says the young woman from Auxerre. When we went out into the street, the damage was really terrible, most of the houses no longer had roofs. We know that there will be thousands of deaths. »
Images that will remain engraved in her head for a long time, she who joined the island four years ago. “We were very, very scared. We were in a stressful situation. It’s really very shocking,” she explains.
“We are afraid for the future”
While Mayotte has had to face a profound social crisis, Olivia Renaud fears for the future of the island. “We are afraid for the future, we don’t know what awaits us. We have nothing left, we are in the dark. In addition, there is no longer a network. We cannot reach people in the north or the south. We don’t know if they are doing well,” confides the community manager of the Mayotte hebdo newspaper.
If announcements are not made in the coming days, Auxerre fears an increase in insecurity. “Today it’s very complicated. In the stores, you can still find a few packs of water, but we wonder how long this will last, because no one knows anything. We can no longer pay by credit card, but the ATMs are dry. To this must be added the looting of homes and stores. There are fears of riots. »
But Olivia Renaud does not want to lose hope. “On the one hand, we would like to leave, at the same time, we want to be there to rebuild, not to abandon Mayotte. What’s incredible is that there is a lot of solidarity. »
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