The full death toll caused by Cyclone Chido in the French overseas territory of Mayotte will not be known for a long time, authorities said.
“It will take days and days,” said France’s acting interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, during a visit to the islands on Monday.
The local manager, François-Xavier Bieuville, told a local radio station on Sunday evening that he thought “certainly a few hundred” people had died in the storm.
According to the first report of the authorities on Monday morning, 20 have died so far, said France Info broadcaster.
More than 250 injuries were recorded.
The French overseas territory of Mayotte is located in the Indian Ocean between the coasts of the southeastern African country of Mozambique and the island nation of Madagascar.
About 310,000 people live in this archipelago. Typhoon Chido hit Mayotte on Saturday with winds of more than 220 kilometers per hour, leaving a lot of damage.
Retaileau said most of the slums were destroyed by the storm. Thousands of homes are without electricity, and there are problems with water supply and telephone networks.
Roads are closed and some areas are closed. In the island’s capital Mamoudzou, a hospital and schools were also affected, according to reports.
Rescuers in the offshore area quickly searched for survivors on Monday.
Colonel Alexandre Jouassard of the Interministerial Crisis Center told public television channel France 2 that there was still hope of finding people alive. “The coming hours are very important. We have deployed teams of experts in the search for debris,” said Jouassard.
Even a few days after the storm passed, victims are still being found, he said, adding, “This is our priority.”
Currently, the provision of local health care is a challenge. Acting Minister of Health in France Geneviève Darrieussecq described the situation in France 2 as “extremely bad, as the hospital is badly damaged and the health centers are not working.”
He stressed the need to be vigilant about infectious diseases, which may be caused by the use of contaminated water or spoiled food.
Since hitting Mayotte, Chido is headed for Mozambique on the African continent, where the storm has reached speeds of up to 240 km per hour.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the landslide destroyed dozens of homes, schools and health centers in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
Source link