Nearly 1,000 Feared Dead After Cyclone Hits France’s Mayotte

Entire settlements were flattened when the cyclone, the most powerful to hit in half a century, ripped through the archipelago on Saturday, tearing houses apart, with winds of more than 124mph.

Francois-Xavier Bieuville, a senior Mayotte official, told local TV: “I think there are some several hundred dead, maybe we’ll get close to a thousand, even thousands.given the violence of this event.”

However, he said it was currently “extremely difficult” to get an exact number.

Emergency services are rushing to the territory to look for survivors on the islands, which lie between the coast of Mozambique and Madagascar.

Maritime and aerial operations were underway to transport relief supplies and equipment, French authorities said late on Sunday.

“The first intervention planes arrive in Mayotte to provide emergency aid in the face of the damage caused by the cyclone. The State is fully mobilised to support the inhabitants of Mayotte in this ordeal,” Nicolas Daragon, France’s minister for everyday security, said on X.

The extent of casualties and physical damage on the islands remained unclear.

Authorities had also established an air bridge between Mayotte and Reunion Island, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar, said Sebastien Lecornu, the French minister of the armed forces.