The French island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean has been hit by more heavy rains, leading to floods and mudslides, a month after Cyclone Chido destroyed large parts of the islands and left dozens dead.
The archipelago was placed on the highest alert as another storm passed through on Sunday morning. The authorities warned of violent winds, floods and landslides.
Videos posted on social media show collapsed power lines and some flooding. Local television reported that the southern village of Mboweni, the only settlement untouched by Cyclone Chido, was flooded.
The latest storm, Dekelidi, made landfall in northern Madagascar on Saturday, killing at least three people.
The storm passed about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Mayotte around 09:00 GMT on Sunday, according to French meteorological forecasts.
“Very heavy rains started falling,” François-Xavier Beauviel, the governor of Mayotte, told French news channel BFMTV.
He added that it caused the first floods and “relatively large mudslides” across the region.
The governor said the island is likely to remain on high alert until Monday evening, as heavy rains are expected to continue even after the storm passes.
BFMTV reported that at least 14,500 people took shelter in emergency shelters set up to protect them from the storm.
As of Sunday afternoon, the storm was moving away from Mayotte, Meteo France reported. Over the next 24 hours, the system is expected to slowly intensify to tropical cyclone status as it approaches the coast of Mozambique.
The forecaster said current forecasts do not predict landfall in Mozambique, but the Nampula region is expected to see “very deteriorating conditions.”
Mozambique is also recovering from Cyclone Chido, which killed 120 people in the country.
On the island of Mayotte, one of the poorest regions in France, many residents live in shanty towns.
Officially, the archipelago has a population of 320,000, but authorities estimate that between 100,000 and 200,000 illegal immigrants may also live there.
On December 14, Hurricane Chido became the worst storm to hit Mayotte in 90 years, bringing winds of up to 260 km/h (160 mph) and flattening areas where people lived in huts with metal roofs.
Initial reports said several hundred people were killed, but the number was later revised to 39.
