Macron to visit cyclone-hit Mayotte in coming days

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he would visit "in the coming days" the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, where hundreds are feared dead after the passage of Cyclone Chido.

Emergency workers have been searching for survivors and battling to restore services in Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory, where hundreds or even thousands, are feared dead from the worst cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean islands in nearly a century.

"In the face of this tragedy, which has shaken each and every one of us, I will declare a national mourning," Mr Macron posted on X after a government meeting over the crisis.

Cyclone Chido devastated large parts of the archipelago off east Africa over the weekend with winds of more than 200kph, strewing homes over hillsides, and cutting phones, power and drinking water.

With areas still inaccessible, France's acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said it would take days to ascertain the full extent of damage and deaths as he arrived in the disaster zone.

Residents queued outside grocery stores in search of water and other basics.

"It really is a war landscape. I don't recognise anything any more. There's not even a tree left, the hills, there's not a blade of grass, it's extraordinary," Mayotte resident Camille Cozon Abdourazak said.

"I found a shop open that had water. There were still a few tins of milk left, so I was able to buy a tin of milk for my baby and one for my friend's baby next door," she added.

Teacher Hamada Ali described streets that were covered in mud and trees.

People were sheltering in schools and bottled water was being used for cooking, he said.

"Houses with sheet metal roofs were swept away by the cyclone," he added.

Communications were down in large parts of the territory, leaving relatives outside desperately enquiring on social media.

Acting health minister Genevieve Darrieussecq said Mamoudzou's main hospital was maintaining operations after floodwaters damaged surgical and intensive care units while afield clinic would be set up and 100 additional medics deployed.

More than three-quarters of Mayotte's 321,000 people live in relative poverty.

According to 2021 figures from statistics agency INSEE, Mayotte has an annual median disposable income of just over 3,000 euros per inhabitant, roughly eight times less than the Ile-de-France region around Paris.

The islands, close to the Comoros archipelago, first came under France's control in 1841.

Mayotte is made up of two main islands.

It has been grappling with unrest in recent years, with many residents angry at undocumented immigration and inflation.

The territory has become a stronghold for the far-right National Rally with 60% voting for Marine Le Pen in the 2022 presidential election runoff.

Biggest storm in more than 90 years

Chido was the strongest storm to strike Mayotte in more than 90 years, French weather service Meteo France said.

Extreme weather events have become more common around the globe, in keeping with global warming.

Poorer nations often say they are bearing the brunt of the environmental crisis despite historically emitting far less CO2 than richer countries.

"It was evident that...when a cyclone hit...we would find ourselves in a situation," leftwing lawmaker Eric Coquerel told French broadcaster LCI, saying the destruction in Mayotte laid bare a failure to prepare for the impact of climate change.

Around the territory, hundreds of makeshift houses were smashed and scattered, according to images from local media and the French gendarmerie.

Coconut trees crashed through building roofs, boats were upended, rubble covered cars and people cowered under tables when the cyclone hit.

After Mayotte, Chido made landfall in north Mozambique where it quickly weakened and was reclassified as a tropical storm but still destroyed several houses, authorities said.

The prefect of Mayotte, Francois-Xavier Bieuville, said at the weekend that deaths would definitely be in the hundreds and possibly several thousand.

Maritime and aerial operations were underway to transport relief supplies and equipment, including from Reunion Island, another French overseas territory, French authorities said.

Mayotte's main airport, however, remained closed to civilian flights, said Jean-Paul Bosland, the president of France's national firefighters' federation.

International community pledges support

There have been international pledges to help Mayotte, including from the regional Red Cross organisation PIROI.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc is "ready to provide support in the days to come".

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, meanwhile said the body "stands ready to support communities in need of essential health care".

Establishing how many people have been affected by the cyclone is proving difficult.

Ousseni Balahachi, a former nurse, said some people did not dare venture out to seek assistance, "fearing it would be a trap" designed to remove them from Mayotte.

Many had stayed put "until the last minute" when it proved too late to escape the cyclone, she added.

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, warned 1.7 million people were in danger and the remnants of the cyclone could also dump "significant rainfall" on Malawi.

Zimbabwe and Zambia could also expect heavy rains, it added.