Tens of thousands of people are without water in Mayotte

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

Preliminary figures from the French Interior Ministry said 22 people were killed, but the governor of Mayotte warned that the death toll could reach thousands.

Health workers fear infectious diseases could spread as residents report shortages of clean drinking water and stores are rationing supplies. More aid will arrive on Wednesday.

Islanders spent their first night under curfew from 22:00 local time on Tuesday to 04:00 on Wednesday (19:00 and 01:00 GMT) as part of containment measures looting.

“Everyone is rushing to the shops to get water,” Ali Ahmidi Youssouf, 39, told AFP on Wednesday while walking with several bottles of water in the Pamandzi community off the archipelago’s main island. In general, there is a lack of water.”

The government said its priority is to restore operation of damaged water plants.

On Wednesday, authorities said the water system had been partially re-established and they expected 50% of the island’s population to have water by evening.

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

Half of the territory is still without electricity. The newly imposed curfew requires people to stay indoors for six hours overnight to prevent looting.

“We have no electricity,” Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, mayor of the capital Mamoudzou, told Radio France Internationale. “When night falls, someone takes advantage of the situation.”

Mayotte is one of the poorest regions in France, with many residents living in shanty towns.

Chido – The worst storm to hit the islands in 90 years – brought wind speeds of more than 225km/h (140mph) on Saturday, flattening areas where people live in tin-roofed tents and leaving fields filled with dirt and debris.

“It was like a steamship crushing everything,” Nasrine, a teacher who did not want to be named, told AFP in her destroyed neighborhood in Pamandzi.

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

“A strong wind broke a window and tore off a wooden panel,” said Diego Plato, a photographer with the French Legion’s 5th Foreign Regiment. The planks measure 2m x 3m (6.5 x 9.8ft)”.

He added that many of the corps’ buildings could no longer function because they no longer had roofs.

Rescuers are currently searching for survivors in rubble, such as in Mamoudzou, while also trying to clear roads and clear rubble and downed trees.

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

Francois-Xavier Bieuville, governor of Mayotte, previously told local media The death toll could increase significantly when the damage has been fully assessed.

He warned that this number “will definitely be several hundred” and could reach thousands.

According to these countries’ disaster management agencies, Chido also killed at least 45 people in Mozambique and at least seven people in Malawi.

Officials said the official casualty toll in Mayotte was relatively low because many areas were inaccessible and some victims had been buried.

The difficulty is compounded by the uncertainty as to the size of Mayotte’s population.

The territory officially has 320,000 residents, but authorities estimate between 100,000 and 200,000 undocumented migrants may be living there.

Initial figures from the Interior Ministry show 1,373 people in Mayotte were injured.

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

“I have never witnessed a disaster of this magnitude in the country,” Bayrou said later in a post on Twitter. X.

“I think of the children whose homes were swept away, their schools were almost destroyed and their parents are devastated.”

The government said it was sending supplies via an air bridge from another Indian Ocean territory, Reunion Island.

On Wednesday, 100 tons of food will be distributed on the larger island of Grand-Terre in Mayotte, while 20 tons will be distributed on the smaller island of Petite-Terre.

A French navy support and assistance ship will also arrive in Mayotte on Thursday morning with 180 tons of cargo on board.

The ferry connecting Mayotte’s two main islands returned to service on Wednesday, allowing some people affected by the storm to return to their families.

“I haven’t heard a word from my employees in five days,” one ferry landowner, who declined to be named, told Reuters. “Back to the Stone Age.”

Meanwhile, in Malawi – where Chido headed after moving through Mayotte – authorities said 7 people died.

A statement from the disaster management agency said as many as 20 of the country’s 29 districts had suffered “light to severe damage” affecting about 35,000 people.

Number of deaths and extent of destruction lower than in neighboring Mozambique where authorities put the death toll at 45.

Experts say seasonal storms like Chido are strengthening because of warmer ocean waters.

The cyclone poses another challenge to the government after months of political unrest, with Bayrou was appointed last week after the former Prime Minister was deposed Michel Barnier.