A devastated hill on the French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, after Cyclone Chido caused extensive damage with reports of several fatalities.Photo by NGO Medecins du Monde/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cyclone Chido kills 'several hundred' in French territory off east African coast: top official

Mayotte Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville told local media the tally could reach the thousands

by · National Post

The death toll in the French territory of Mayotte from Cyclone Chido is “several hundred” and may run into the thousands, the island’s top government official told a local broadcaster Sunday.

France rushed rescue teams and supplies to its largely poor overseas department in the Indian Ocean that has suffered widespread destruction.

“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 Francois-Xavier Bieuville told TV station Mayotte la 1ere.

France sends the army to ensure water to drought-stricken Indian Ocean island of MayottePARIS (AP) — France is sending military forces to distribute water on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, which is facing an unprecedented water crisis prompted by the island cluster’s most severe drought in decades.14 Sep 2023Drought and mismanagement have left a French island parched. That holds lessons for the mainlandMAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — Drop by disappearing drop, water is an ever more precious resource on Mayotte, the poorest place in the European Union. Taps flow just one day out of three in this French territory off Africa’s eastern coast, because of a drawn-out drought compounded by years of underinvestment and water mismanagement.Gregoire Merot, 12 Nov 2023