SAINT REUNION: Cyclone Chido inflicted “catastrophic” damage on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Saturday, a senior local official said, battering the archipelago with winds of up to 220 kilometres per hour.

“We don’t know if anyone has been killed but, given the damage, it’s likely,” said Madi Madi Souf, head of the Mayotte mayors’ association, who was himself in mainland France. “It’s a catastrophic situation,” he added.

“There already seems to be very significant damage,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau posted on X.

He added that 140 fresh troops and firefighters would be sent to the scene on Sunday to help with recovery, more than doubling the deployment sent earlier in the week.

Mayotte had been placed on violet alert — the highest — ahead of the passage of Chido, whose eye swept across the north of the archipelago from east to west on its way towards Mozambique on the African mainland.

Weather authority Meteo France recorded winds of at least 226 kilometres per hour at Pamandzi airport. But conditions were expected to calm later on Saturday as the cyclone moved away.

On the ground, more than 15,000 homes were without electricity, Environment Minister Agnes-Pannier-Runacher posted on X.

“Even emergency responders are locked down. There’s no mobile phone service and we can’t reach people on the island,” the head of Mayotte’s firefighters’ union, Abdoul Karim Ahmed Allaoui, told the BFM news channel.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024