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.

Several hundred people, maybe even thousands, may have been killed by Cyclone Chido in the French archipelago of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, a top local French official said via local media channel Mayotte La 1ere on Sunday.

Hundreds or even thousands are feared dead from the most powerful cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean island in nearly a century.