THE ESSENTIAL
- The French department of Mayotte was swept away on Saturday morning by a violent cyclone, Chido. Precarious housing was completely destroyed.
- The latest official report shows 21 dead and more than 1,300 people injured including 45 in absolute emergency.
- Emmanuel Macron announced that he will go “in Mayotte in the coming days in support” to the people affected by the deadly passage of Cyclone Chido, “to civil servants and mobilized relief forces”.
- A curfew (10 p.m. – 4 a.m.) will be put in place.
LIVE
12:10 p.m. | More than 200 Red Cross volunteers may be missing
11:50 a.m. | At least 34 people in Mozambique
Cyclone Chido killed at least 34 people in Mozambique, the Mozambican National Institute for Risk and Disaster Management announced on Tuesday.
The cyclone then hit the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado on Sunday, where 28 people were killed, according to the institute. Three others died in Nampula province and three others in Niassa province, inland, he added.
11:25 a.m. | A “great evening of support and solidarity” scheduled on France 2 this Tuesday evening
France Télévision will broadcast a live broadcast this Tuesday evening “for the reconstruction and aid to the devastated populations” of Mayotte.
The singer Nolwenn Leroy, but also Marc Lavoine, Raphaël, Thomas Dutronc, Cali, Ycare and Meiitod, the group Kimberose and the Franco-Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili have already confirmed their participation.
11 a.m. | The telephone network is gradually coming back
Witnesses in Mayotte indicate to our colleagues Parisian that the telephone network gradually returns to the island. Operators Orange and SFR are currently installing emergency telephone antennas. However, 80% of the network remains unavailable for the moment. Mahorais are advised to send SMS rather than calling.
10:45 a.m. | Initial aid of 655,000 euros released by the State
A first envelope of 655,000 euros was released by a decree published this Tuesday in the Official Journal. These funds will be used “to finance the urgent needs of civil security to deal with the situation in Mayotte”, specifies the explanatory memorandum.
10 a.m. | A Nièvre football club launches a fundraiser to help its players who were in Mayotte
Two brothers of five, playing football for the Racing Club Nevers-Challuy-Sermoise, were in Mayotte to see their mother when Cyclone Chido blasted the island. The club has launched a fundraiser to help them. Our article.
9:30 a.m. | The Ministry of the Interior confirms the implementation of a curfew
A curfew will be put in place from this Tuesday evening from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. in the Mayotte archipelago devastated last weekend by Cyclone Chiro, the Ministry of the Interior announced this Tuesday.
This curfew is put in place for security reasons, in order to avoid looting, at a time when Mayotte, the poorest department in France, must face shortages of water and food after the passage of the cyclone.
9:10 a.m. | Braun-Pivet “would have preferred that the Prime Minister took the plane to Mayotte”
The President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet affirmed this Tuesday that she would have “preferred that the Prime Minister took the plane to Mayotte”, rather than attending the municipal council of Pau of which François Bayrou intends to remain mayor.
“I am against the accumulation of mandates and I think that we should not, at least at this moment, also put this subject back on the table, it is really not the time,” she said. added on franceinfo, while the Prime Minister defended at length Monday evening the return to the accumulation of mandates.
9 a.m. | Powerful earthquake off the coast of Vanuatu, a witness reports victims
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Vanuatu on Tuesday, causing significant damage, a brief tsunami alert and, according to a witness, victims, in this Pacific archipelago particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.
A witness told AFP he had seen bodies in buildings in the capital Port Vila and videos on social networks show significant damage to a building housing several diplomatic representations including the French embassy.
8:50 a.m. | Bruno Retailleau: “The island is devastated”
Bruno Retailleau wrote on
“We will not be able to rebuild Mayotte without dealing with the migration issue with the greatest determination,” warns the resigning Minister of the Interior. Mayotte is the symbol of the drift that governments have allowed to take hold on this issue.”
8:40 a.m. | A curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. will be put in place
Following a request from a local parliamentarian and on instructions from the President of the Republic, the prefecture of Mayotte announces that a curfew will be put in place in the archipelago from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
8:30 a.m. | “I spent the weekend with a lump in my stomach”: the unbearable wait of relatives of residents of Mayotte
Silence and anguish still accompany many families without news of their loved ones, hit by tropical cyclone Chido. In Clermont-Ferrand as in the rest of the country, families are watching for the slightest sign of life. Our article.
8:15 a.m. | 250 km/h, 9m30 high… These impressive figures from Cyclone Chido
Météo-France reveals on its website the impressive figures for Cyclone Chido which swept across the archipelago on Saturday morning.
According to the forecaster, wind gusts exceeded 200 km/h in the eye wall of the cyclone. “North of Petite-Terre and the northern half of Grande-Terre”, the raids approached 250 km/h.
Gusts exceeded 100 km/h for just under five hours, exceeded 150 km/h for around three hours and exceeded 200 km/h for around 45 minutes. This testifies to the compactness and rapid movement speed of the cyclone.
On the coasts of the island, high waves of up to 9m30 were observed, notably “outside the lagoon in the northwest of the island.”
As for precipitation, 176 millimeters of rain fell in 12 hours, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to have exact figures given that the rain gauges stopped working as the cyclone approached.
7:45 a.m. | Geography, climate, economy… Why Mayotte is a particularly vulnerable territory
Tropical cyclone Chido brought to its knees an island of 320,000 inhabitants (according to the latest official figures from INSEE) which was already in great suffering. Explanations from Michaël Goujon, academic specializing in island economies.
7:25 a.m. | “We risk a health crisis”, warns the president of the Departmental Council of Mayotte
“In addition to the crisis we are experiencing, we also risk a health crisis very soon,” warned Ben Issa Ousseni, the president of the Departmental Council of Mayotte invited to the Mayotte La 1ère plateau.
Cholera, which has been present on the island for months, could be spread by the damage and lack of water supply. Dengue and chikungunya are also feared.
The installation of a military field hospital is planned from Thursday. Around a hundred caregivers must be mobilized there.
7:20 a.m. | Commercial flights canceled at least until Thursday, December 19
Due to the closure of Mayotte airport, whose control tower was significantly damaged, commercial flights should be canceled at least until Thursday, December 19, according to Air Austral.
7:15 a.m. | “Asma, I’m fine, the children are fine, we’re not dead!” : three Mahorais from Cantal testify
We can’t sleep.” On the phone, the voice of Ata Youssef, 32, is tinged with despair. Since the passage of the cyclone on her native island, she has remained with her eyes glued to “social networks” to intercept the slightest news She arrived in Cantal as a child, with her parents, brothers and sisters, but her uncles, aunts and cousins live in Passamainty, not far from Mamoudzou, the capital, and in the north. of the island.
7:10 a.m. | The United States “ready” to help Mayotte
“We stand ready to provide appropriate humanitarian assistance,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, offering American condolences to the victims. He was not in a position to provide details or whether a specific request had been made.
7:05 a.m. | Macron announces that he will go to Mayotte “in the coming days” and will declare “national mourning”
Emmanuel Macron announced Monday evening that he will go “to Mayotte in the coming days in support” of people hit by the deadly passage of Cyclone Chido, “of civil servants and mobilized relief forces”.
“It’s about facing emergencies and starting to prepare for the future,” the president said on X after a government crisis meeting. “Faced with this tragedy which upsets each of us, I will declare national mourning,” he added.
7 hours | Where is Mayotte anyway?
Mayotte, the poorest department in France, is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean located in the east of Africa, between Madagascar and the coast of Mozambique.
6:45 a.m. | Why is the human toll so low given the feared hundreds of deaths?
The latest report, communicated late Monday morning, shows around twenty deaths. But it does not reflect (at all) the reality on the ground. “Certainly several hundred” deaths, “or even a few thousand”, will be deplored, the prefect of Mayotte warned on Sunday.
“It will take days and days” to count the victims, declared Bruno Retailleau, resigned Minister of the Interior, who visited the site on Monday.
In addition, a definitive assessment will be “very difficult” to establish given that the Muslim tradition, the majority in Mayotte, requires that the deceased be buried “within 24 hours”, specified the prefect François-Xavier Bieuville.
6:30 a.m. | Hello everyone !
Welcome to this live commentary on the situation in Mayotte, swept away this weekend by Cyclone Chido.
