Cyclone Chido: Several hundred people are reportedly feared dead while thousands are suspected to have been killed in Mayotte, France after Cyclone ‘Chido’ hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago, a senior French official said on Sunday. Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville told local Media Channel Mayotte La 1ere that the death toll could certainly reach thousands.
Responding to the devastation, the French Interior Ministry said that it is difficult to account for all the victims and that the actual figure could not be determined at this point. The cyclonic storm ‘Chido’ hit Mayotte Territory overnight, with winds blowing at a speed of 200 km/hr (124 mph). One of the most powerful cyclones in nearly a century, Chido caused massive damage to houses, government buildings, and a hospital, according to reports.
A resident of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, Mohamed Ishmael told Reuters, “Honestly, it is a tragedy that we are experiencing; You may feel as if you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war. I witnessed an entire neighborhood disappear.”
Images circulating on local media showed a pregnant woman pushing a newborn baby’s crib along the flooded Hospital corridor. More than 1,00,000 undocumented migrants live in Mayotte, the French interior ministry reported.
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