PARIS/MORONI — Emergency workers searched for survivors on Monday (Dec 16) and battled to restore services in Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory, where hundreds, or even thousands, are feared dead from the worst cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean islands in nearly a century.

Cyclone Chido devastated large parts of the archipelago off east Africa over the weekend with winds of more than 200 kph (124 mph), strewing homes over hillsides, and cutting off phones, power and drinking water.

With areas still inaccessible, France's acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said it would take days to ascertain the full extent of damage and deaths, stressing he feared the toll would be "heavy, too heavy".

"I wouldn't be able... to give you any figures, not for the moment anyway. It's clear that the island is totally devastated," Retailleau said during a press conference.

After holding an emergency meeting about Mayotte with his cabinet, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would visit the archipelago in the "coming days", adding that he would declare a day of national mourning.

"At the meeting of the crisis unit, I ensured that all emergency measures to help the people of Mayotte were taken and that the continuity of the state be guaranteed," Macron said in a post on X.

Residents queued outside grocery stores in search of water and other basics.

"It really is a war landscape. I don't recognise anything any more. There's not even a tree left, the hills, there's not a blade of grass, it's extraordinary," Mayotte resident Camille Cozon Abdourazak told Reuters by video call after her power was restored.

"I found a shop open that had water. There were still a few tins of milk left, so I was able to buy a tin of milk for my baby and one for my friend's baby next door," she added.

Teacher Hamada Ali described streets that were covered in mud and trees. People were sheltering in schools and bottled water was being used for cooking, he said.

"Houses with sheet metal roofs were swept away by the cyclone," he added.

Communications were down in large parts of the territory, leaving relatives outside desperately enquiring on social media. "I need an update from Chiconi please, my brother, my sister-in-law and my niece are there and I'm without any news since Saturday," said one.

Acting health minister Genevieve Darrieussecq said the main hospital in the capital Mamoudzou was maintaining operations after floodwaters damaged surgical and intensive care units and a field clinic would be set up and 100 additional medics deployed.

More than three-quarters of Mayotte's 321,000 people live in relative poverty. According to 2021 figures from statistics agency INSEE, Mayotte has an annual median disposable income of just over 3,000 euros (S$4,257) per inhabitant, roughly eight times less than the Ile-de-France region around Paris.

Biggest storm in 90 years

The islands, close to the Comoros archipelago, first came under France's control in 1841. Mayotte is made up of two main islands over an area about twice the size of Washington, DC.

It has been grappling with unrest in recent years, with many residents angry at undocumented immigration and inflation.

The territory has become a stronghold for the far-right National Rally with 60 per cent voting for Marine Le Pen in the 2022 presidential election runoff.

Chido was the strongest storm to strike Mayotte in more than 90 years, French weather service Meteo France said.

Extreme weather events have become more common around the globe, in keeping with climate change. Poorer nations often say they are bearing the brunt of the environmental crisis despite historically emitting far less CO2 than richer countries.

"It was evident that... when a cyclone hit... we would find ourselves in a situation," left-wing lawmaker Eric Coquerel told French broadcaster LCI, saying the destruction in Mayotte laid bare a failure to prepare for the impact of climate change.

Around the territory, hundreds of makeshift houses were smashed and scattered, images from local media and the French gendarmerie showed. Coconut trees crashed through building roofs, boats were upended, rubble covered cars and people cowered under tables when the cyclone hit.

"I was screaming because I could see the end coming for me," John Balloz, who lives in Mamoudzou, told Reuters.

After hitting Mayotte, Chido made landfall in north Mozambique, where it quickly weakened and was reclassified as a tropical storm on Sunday but still destroyed several houses, authorities said.

The prefect of Mayotte, Francois-Xavier Bieuville, said at the weekend that deaths would definitely be in the hundreds and possibly several thousand.

Maritime and aerial operations were underway to transport relief supplies and equipment, including from Reunion Island, another French overseas territory, French authorities said.

Mayotte's main airport, however, remained closed to civilian flights on Monday morning, said Jean-Paul Bosland, the president of France's national firefighters' federation.

Source: Reuters