Tens of thousands are without water on the island of Mayotte

Tens of thousands of people remain without access to water on the island of Mayotte after Cyclone Chido devastated the French Indian Ocean territory, as rescuers race to find missing people.

Preliminary figures issued by the French Ministry of the Interior indicate that 22 people have died, but the governor of the island of Mayotte warned that the number could rise to thousands.

Health workers are concerned about the potential spread of infectious diseases, as residents report shortages of clean drinking water and stores ration supplies. More aid is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday.

Island residents spent the first night under curfew between 22:00 local time on Tuesday and 04:00 on Wednesday (19:00 and 01:00 GMT) as part of measures to prevent looting.

“Everyone is rushing to the stores to get water. There is a general shortage,” Ali Ahmadi Yusuf, 39, told AFP on Wednesday as he walked with a few bottles in his hand in the Bamandzi area off the archipelago's main island.

Half of the area is still without electricity. The authorities said their priority is to restart the damaged water stations.

Authorities said on Wednesday that the water system had been partially restored, and expressed hope that 50% of the island's population would be able to access water by evening.

The French government said 120 tons of food were scheduled to be distributed on Wednesday, while President Emmanuel Macron was scheduled to visit Mayotte on Thursday.

Mayotte is one of the poorest regions in France, with many of its residents living in shantytowns.

desires – The worst storm to hit the archipelago in 90 years – It brought winds of more than 225 kilometers per hour (140 mph) on Saturday, leveling areas where people live in metal-roofed shacks and leaving fields of dirt and debris.

“It was like a roller crushing everything,” Nasreen, a teacher who did not give her last name, told AFP in her devastated neighborhood of Bamandzi.

Another witness to the storm told Reuters that roofs “were blown away like pieces of paper.”

“A gust of wind smashed the window and tore off a wooden board,” said Diego Plato, a photographer with the French Legion’s 5th Foreign Regiment. “The boards were 2 meters by 3 meters (6.5 x 9.8 feet).”

He added that many of the Corps' buildings were no longer able to operate because they no longer had roofs.

Rescuers are now searching for survivors among the rubble, such as in the capital, Mamoudzou, while trying to open roads and remove rubble and fallen trees.

On Wednesday morning, Mamoudzou residents, whose homes survived the storm, hammered metal sheets onto damaged roofs.

François-Xavier Beauville, the governor of Mayotte, told local media earlier The death toll may rise significantly Once the damage has been fully assessed.

He warned that the number “will certainly be several hundred” and could reach thousands.

Chido also killed at least 45 people in Mozambique, and at least seven in Malawi, according to those countries' disaster management departments.

Officials said the relatively low official number in Mayotte was due to many areas being inaccessible and some victims already buried.

The difficulty is compounded by uncertainty about the size of Mayotte's population.

The area's official population is 320,000, but authorities estimate that between 100,000 and 200,000 illegal immigrants may live there.

Preliminary figures issued by the Ministry of the Interior show that 1,373 people were infected on the island of Mayotte.

Newly appointed French Prime Minister François Bayrou told parliament on Tuesday that there were “200 seriously injured and 1,500 injured in a relatively urgent condition.”

“I have never seen a disaster of this magnitude on national territory,” Bayrou later said in a post. X.

“I think of the children whose homes have been swept away by the floods, their schools almost completely destroyed, and whose parents are absolutely distraught.”

The government said it was sending supplies via airlift from its other Indian Ocean territory, Reunion Island.

On Wednesday, 100 tons of food are scheduled to be distributed on the larger island of Grande Terre in Mayotte, while 20 tons are scheduled for distribution on the smaller island of Petite Terre.

A French Navy support and assistance ship is also scheduled to arrive on the island of Mayotte on Thursday morning with 180 tons of cargo on board.

The ferry linking Mayotte's two main islands resumed services on Wednesday, allowing some people trapped by the storm to return to their families.

One landowner on the ferry, who declined to give his name, told Reuters: “I haven't heard a word from my employees for five days.” “It's going back to the Stone Age.”

Meanwhile, in Malawi – where Chido headed after passing through the island of Mayotte – authorities say seven people have been killed.

A statement issued by the disaster management said that as many as 20 of the country's 29 districts suffered mild to severe damage affecting about 35,000 people.

Number of deaths and level of destruction Lower than in neighboring Mozambique The authorities estimated the death toll at 34.

Experts say monsoon storms like Chido are becoming stronger due to rising ocean waters.

The hurricane poses another challenge to the government after months of political turmoil Bayrou was appointed last week after the ouster of the former prime minister Michel Barnier.