What is the French territory of Mayotte, where Cyclone Chido has left hundreds dead?

This weekend, the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte was hit by a powerful cyclone, potentially resulting in a massive loss of life.

According to a senior government official, the death toll could be in the hundreds or even thousands.

This cyclone is considered the strongest to hit the region in nearly a century.

Here’s all we know about it.

All about Mayotte

Mayotte is a French territory located off the southeastern shores of Africa. Made up of two main islands: Grande-Terre and Petite-Terre, it is located northwest of Madagascar and east of the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean.

According to official estimates, its population is 321,000, with a land area of 374 square kilometres—slightly more than the size of Washington, DC.

Approximately 1,000 years ago, Arab sailors were the first to settle on the islands. The Arabs created a number of small sultanates on the various islands, traded with Madagascar and East Africa, and imported slaves from Africa.

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In June 1843, France began colonising Mayotte, and in 1904, it formally annexed the entire archipelago. The push for complete independence persisted despite a 1961 measure of self-rule. In a 1974 referendum, 65 per cent of Mayotte voters chose to remain French, while 95 per cent supported separation. On July 6, 1975, Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli unilaterally declared their independence. Mayotte, still a French territory, is under French taxation and social welfare.

The island is mostly reliant on French financial assistance. The rapidly expanding population of Comoros has experienced poverty and political instability despite the island’s flourishing under French rule. Every year, hundreds of Comorians take a chance on their lives by travelling to Mayotte by sea.

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Mayotte has previously struggled with drought and underinvestment.

The territory was devastated by two storms in 1898, and the survivors were severely weakened by a smallpox outbreak. Vanilla, coffee, sisal, and subsequently aromatic plants like ylang-ylang took the place of the sugar business.

About one in three adults in Mayotte who are of working age do not have a job. According to the national INSEE statistics institute, three out of four people in France are below the country’s poverty level.

Cyclone Chido

On Friday and Saturday, Cyclone Chido swept over the southwest Indian Ocean, impacting the neighbouring islands of Madagascar and Comoros as well. However, Mayotte was squarely in the path of the storm and suffered the most.

The French weather service classified the intense tropical cyclone as a category 4 cyclone, the second strongest on the scale, with gusts exceeding 220 kilometres per hour.

When it later made landfall in Mozambique on the African mainland, authorities there expressed concern that over two million people in the north of the country would be affected.

Communities might be shut off from schools and medical facilities for weeks, according to UNICEF Mozambique spokesman Guy Taylor, and Mozambique authorities warned of a high risk of landslides.

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The death toll

The top government official on the island informed a local station on Sunday that Cyclone Chido has killed “several hundred” people in the French territory of Mayotte, with the death toll possibly reaching thousands.

“I think there are some several hundred dead, maybe we’ll get close to a thousand. Even thousands … given the violence of this event,″ Mayotte Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville told TV station Mayotte la 1ere.

He had previously said it was the worst cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years.

According to Bieuville, it was quite difficult to determine the precise number of fatalities and injuries.

Earlier on Sunday, the French Interior Ministry confirmed at least 11 fatalities and over 250 injuries, but stated that the number was likely to rise significantly.

The worst destruction, according to Bieuville, has been observed in the informal structures and metal shack slums that make up a large portion of Mayotte. “This figure is not plausible when you see the images of the slums,” he remarked, referring to the official death toll thus far.

“I think the human toll is much higher,” he added.

Pope Francis visited the French Mediterranean island of Corsica on Sunday and offered prayers for the victims.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his “thoughts” were with the Mayotte people and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was due to travel to Mayotte on Monday.

The destruction

Mayotte is France’s poorest island and the EU’s poorest territory.

Cyclone Chido caused major damage to public infrastructure, including the airport, in the French territory.

In some parts, entire neighbourhoods of metal shacks and huts were flattened, while residents reported many trees had been uprooted, boats flipped or sunk and the electricity supply knocked out.

French Transport Minister François Durovray said in a message on X that Mayotte airport was “badly damaged, particularly the control tower,” adding that infrastructure on the island had been heavily impacted and air traffic will first be reopened to military aircraft only. Ships are being used to provide supplies.

The mayor of Mayotte’s capital of Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, had earlier told AFP, “The hospital is hit, the schools are hit. Houses are totally devastated,” he said, adding that the cyclone had “spared nothing.”

As Ibrahim, a local, navigated the main island, he had to remove blocked roadways for himself and described “apocalyptic scenes” to the news agency.

Chad Youyou, a resident of Hamjago in the north of the island, posted videos on Facebook showing the extensive damage in his village and across the surrounding fields and hills, where almost every tree had been levelled.

“Mayotte is destroyed… we are destroyed,” he said.

Aerial footage shared by French gendarmerie forces showed the wreckage of hundreds of makeshift homes scattered across the hills of one of Mayotte’s islands, which have served as a hub for illegal immigration from neighbouring Comoros.  

Mayotte is still under red alert for the ordinary population and people were asked to “remain confined in a solid shelter,” prefect Bieuville said. Only emergency and security services were allowed to go out.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and French President Macron on Sunday pledged help.

Rescue teams and supplies

Supplies were also flown in on military planes and ships, while rescuers and firefighters were dispatched from France and the neighbouring French island of Reunion.

Only military planes could enter the airport due to damage to the control tower.

Authorities want to build a sea and air bridge connecting Reunion and Mayotte, according to Reunion prefect Patrice Latron.

Over 80 tonnes of supplies had been flown in or were en route by ship, and a further 800 rescuers were scheduled to be dispatched in the next few days. Restoring access to drinking water and electricity were among the top goals, according to Latron.

1,600 police and gendarmerie officers have been sent in to “help the population and prevent potential looting,” according to the French Interior Ministry.

Cyclone season

In the southwestern Indian Ocean, cyclone season runs from December to March, and in recent years, a string of powerful ones have pounded southern Africa.

More than 1,300 people were killed by Cyclone Idai in 2019, primarily in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Last year, Cyclone Freddy killed over 1,000 people in a number of southern African and Indian Ocean nations.

Although cyclones increase the risk of flooding and landslides, they can also cause deadly outbreaks of malaria, dengue fever, and cholera, which are watery diseases.

According to studies, climate change is making cyclones worse.

They can leave impoverished African states that make little contribution to global warming to deal with severe humanitarian issues, highlighting their demand for greater assistance from wealthy countries to address the effects of climate change.

With inputs from agencies