The strongest hurricane in nearly a century tore through the French Indian Ocean enclave of Mayotte on Saturday, uprooting trees, tearing apart houses, and battering the already fragile infrastructure of the poor archipelago, leaving at least several hundred people thought dead.
The islands are between the coasts of Madagascar and Mozambique, and rescuers have been sent there, but their efforts are expected to be hampered by damage to airports and energy delivery in a region where there are ongoing shortages of clean drinking water.
Speaking to Mayotte’s la 1ere TV station on Sunday, the archipelago’s prefect, François-Xavier Bieuville, said the confirmed toll of 11 dead was likely to soar over the coming days. “I think there will certainly be several hundreds, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousands,” he said. Bieuville said it would be very difficult to reach a final count given that most residents were Muslim and so traditionally would bury their dead within 24 hours.
Establishing an accurate toll will be exceedingly challenging given that France’s interior ministry estimates roughly 100,000 people live clandestinely on Mayotte.
