Cyclone Chido ravages Mayotte: Atleast 14 dead, thousands displaced
Paris: At least 14 people were killed and nine critically injured as Cyclone Chido ravaged Mayotte, a French Indian Ocean territory, on Saturday. The cyclone's powerful gusts, reaching speeds of 226 kilometers per hour, flattened shantytowns, uprooted trees, and toppled electricity poles, leaving over 15,000 homes without power and disrupting telephone services, officials said.
Acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau described the destruction as catastrophic, stating, "Everything has been swept away, everything is razed."
Acting Environment Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher confirmed the extensive power outages, while Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq reported "major material damage" to Mayotte’s health system, including the hospital center.
Retailleau, who will visit Mayotte on Monday, said, "It will take several days to establish the full death toll, but we fear that it is heavy."
Relief efforts hampered by severe disruptions
Rescue teams and emergency supplies are being rushed to the island by air and sea, though damaged infrastructure is slowing relief efforts. Pamandzi airport on Petite-Terre, the smaller of Mayotte’s two main islands, sustained severe damage, Acting Transport Minister François Durovray confirmed.
Medical personnel, firefighters, and 160 soldiers are being deployed to assist the 110 already stationed in Mayotte ahead of the storm. The prefecture in La Réunion, another French territory, stated that it is working to evaluate the needs of emergency services and the affected population.
Mounira, a resident of the Kaweni district in Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, described the devastation: “Everything has been swept away, everything is razed.”
Impact extends to neighbouring regions
Cyclone Chido’s effects reached the nearby Comoros islands, where it flooded mosques, swept away boats, and damaged homes on the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli. The cyclone later made landfall in Mozambique, around 40 kilometers south of Pemba, bringing gale-force winds and heavy rainfall.
UNICEF reported widespread destruction, saying, “Many homes, schools, and health facilities have been partially or completely destroyed.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that 1.7 million people are at risk, with potential flash floods in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.
Experts attribute Cyclone Chido’s exceptional strength to climate change, fueled by unusually warm Indian Ocean waters. François Gourand of France’s Meteo France said the storm was similar in intensity to Cyclones Gombe in 2022 and Freddy in 2023, which caused significant loss of life in Mozambique.
AFP