At least 14 people were killed in Mayotte when a fierce cyclone battered the French Indian Ocean territory, authorities said on Sunday, with officials warning it will take days to know the full toll.
Rescuers and supplies are being rushed in by air and sea, but their efforts are likely to be hindered by damage to airports and electricity distribution in a territory where even clean drinking water was already subject to chronic shortages.
The toll of 14 was counted in a provisional list compiled by authorities, a security source told journalists.
Nine people were gravely wounded and fighting for their lives in hospital, said Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, mayor of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, while 246 more were seriously injured.
“The hospital is hit, the schools are hit. Houses are totally devastated,” he said, adding that the hurricane “spared nothing”.
Mayotte’s 320,000 residents were ordered into lockdown as cyclone Chido bore down on the islands around 500 kilometres east of Mozambique.
