The images of total destruction in Mayotte after Cyclone Chido are shocking, as fears are expressed for even thousands of dead. The devastating Cyclone “Chido” swept through Mayotte last Saturday, causing destruction that one resident likened to a nuclear explosion.
At the same time, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would visit the site of the tragedy in the French archipelago.
Mayotte is located in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of Africa, west of Madagascar. It consists of two main islands, and its area is approximately twice the size of Washington. Cyclone “Chido,” a Category 4 storm, traversed the southwestern Indian Ocean over the weekend, hitting northern Madagascar before rapidly intensifying and striking Mayotte with winds exceeding 220 kilometers per hour, according to the French meteorological service. It was the strongest storm to hit the islands in over 90 years, according to Meteo-France.
The cyclone leveled neighborhoods, knocked out power grids, destroyed hospitals and schools, and caused damage to the airport’s control tower. “Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy; it feels like being in the aftermath of a nuclear war… I saw an entire neighborhood disappear,” Mohamed Ishmael, a resident of Mamoudzou, told Reuters.
“I believe there are several hundred dead, perhaps close to a thousand. Even thousands… given the violence of this phenomenon,” said Mayotte’s prefect, François-Xavier Bieuville, to the television station Mayotte la 1ère.
The scale of the damage caused by Cyclone Chido last Saturday in the Mayotte archipelago is revealed by satellite images from Maxar.
“There is no water, no electricity. Hunger is starting to rise. It is urgent for aid to arrive, especially when you see children, babies, to whom we have nothing concrete to offer,” Mayotte Senator Salama Ramia told BFM-TV.
