Cyclone Chido | France fears hundreds of deaths in Mayotte

(Saint-Denis de la Réunion) Several hundred, even thousands of deaths: the authorities fear a very heavy human toll in Mayotte, the poorest department in France devastated by the cyclone Desirewhere emergency services were reinforced on Sunday by airlift.

“I think there will certainly be several hundred, perhaps we will approach a thousand, or even a few thousand” deaths given the “violence” of the cyclone, declared the prefect of Mayotte François-Xavier Bieuville on the channel public Mayotte 1^re.

But it will be “very difficult to have a final assessment” given that the Muslim tradition, very anchored in the small archipelago in the Indian Ocean, wants the deceased to be buried “within 24 hours”, specified the representative of the state.

In addition, the illegal population of Mayotte exceeds 100,000 people according to the Ministry of the Interior – out of some 320,000 officially counted inhabitants – which makes an exhaustive death count improbable.

Leading the way in an air and sea bridge organized from the island of Reunion, a French territory 1,400 km away as the crow flies, the first planes carrying equipment and relief and medical personnel landed in Mayotte on Sunday.

The resigning Ministers of the Interior and Overseas Territories, Bruno Retailleau and François-Noël Buffet, are expected in Mayotte late Monday morning, as is their colleague from the Francophonie Thani Mohamed-Soilihi, originally from the archipelago. Through its President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission said it was “ready to provide support in the days to come”.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, assured X that his organization stood “ready to support the population”.

“We fear that the needs are immense,” reacted Jagan Chapagain, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), referring to the mobilization of the French Red Cross on site.

A race against time began to provide aid and restore the supply of water, food and electricity to the many areas that were still deprived of them on Sunday. Queues stretched out in front of supermarkets.

“Carnage”

Some 1,600 police officers and gendarmes are mobilized on the ground, in particular to “avoid looting”, indicated the prefect.

With wind gusts observed at more than 220 km/h, the cyclone Desirethe most intense to hit the overseas territory in more than 90 years, wreaked havoc on Saturday.

The highly populated slums of Mayotte were “completely destroyed”, according to the authorities.

Even permanent buildings suffered serious damage. “It’s carnage. The court, the prefecture, many services, businesses, schools are on the ground,” Ousseni Balahachi, a retired nurse, told AFP.

“The hospital is affected, the schools are affected. Houses are totally devastated. The phenomenon spared nothing in its path,” the mayor of Mamoudzou Ambdilwahedou Soumaila described to AFP. “We still hope to find survivors in the rubble,” the councilor added later on BFMTV.

The huts were destroyed, the corrugated iron roofs flew away, electric poles fell to the ground, trees and bamboo were broken… Most of the roads are impassable, communications extremely difficult.

Many undocumented immigrants living in the slums had not joined the shelters provided by the prefecture, “thinking that it would be a trap being set for them […] to pick them up and take them outside the borders,” according to ex-nurse Ousseni Balahachi.

“These people stayed until the last minute. When they saw the intensity of the phenomenon, they began to panic, looking for somewhere to take refuge. But it was already too late, the sheets were starting to fly away,” he regretted.

The Pope in solidarity

Visiting Corsica on Sunday, Pope Francis said he supported “in spirit” the victims of this “tragedy”. By meeting the head of the Catholic Church at Ajaccio airport, President Emmanuel Macron promised to “act” for the Mahorais.

Mayotte MP Estelle Youssouffa called on the state to declare a state of emergency to “protect people and property”.

Continuing its course, the cyclone Desire hit northern Mozambique on Sunday morning. At least three people were killed in northern Mozambique on Sunday during the cyclone, which caused violent winds and torrential rains which also destroyed several buildings, according to a provisional report.

Desire was then expected to reach Malawi by Monday, bringing significant rainfall to the drought-stricken country.

Zimbabwe also issued a warning for heavy rain associated with the cyclone.