Transcript of Cyclone Chido hits Mayotte with hundreds feared dead | BBC News

French troops, rescue workers, and aid are being rushed to Mayotte to help victims of the worst storm to hit the French Indian Ocean Territory in almost a century. Slicone, Chido flattened whole neighborhoods on Saturday, and hundreds of people are feared dead. Power and communication lines have been ruptured, and the airport and hospital are badly damaged. The cyclone has also caused damage in Mozambique. Luisa Pilbin has the latest.

Poorly built homes with tin roofs never stood a chance against the power of cyclone, Chido. Winds of a 140 miles per hour ripped flimsy neighborhoods apart in Mayotte, a French island in the Indian Ocean. 100 have died with the death toll feared far higher. Hospitals, schools, roads have been torn up in what French forecasters say is the worst storm in nearly a century. Jon Bono filmed this in the capital, Mamnadzu, where the slums have been worst hit.

It was the wind. The wind blowing and I was panicked. I screamed. We need help. We need help.

I was screaming because I could see the end coming for

me.

Other people didn't escape. Some swept away by flooding or buried in their houses. Many of the 300,000 population are without electricity, phone lines, internet, water, and food. The French military are flying in medical supplies from a nearby island and getting teams on the ground.

Right now, we're encountering a number of difficulties in transporting all the staff and equipment needed for the victim rescue mission on the island of Mayotte. So here, there's a sort of cluster log that's being organized to bring together the men and equipment.

The aftermath in Mayotte is catastrophic. Now the cyclone is moving through the Mozambique Channel with those in its path bracing themselves. Luisa Pilbeam, BBC News.

So let's take more detail, on what's been going on. Our website is updating all the time with the latest on rescue efforts. As you were hearing from Louisa there, entire settlements were flattened in in Mayotte. Rescue workers, include including reinforcements from France, are desperately trying to search for any survivors. Let's speak to our correspondent in Nairobi, Richard, Cargo.

Richard, what more can you tell us?

Yeah. So the rescue operation is currently underway. So we've had about a 110 French soldiers who were deployed to the island just before the cyclone strike. And then yesterday, we had another reinforcement of another 160. So they're basically assisting in terms of rescue and clearing operations.

It's quite difficult actually to access most of the sites, which were severely impacted because of the destruction that was done on the public infrastructure, including roads and bridges and also the country's main airport. So the situation is still very critical at this hour.

And, also, of course, there is the desperate search for anyone who has survived, still trapped. But those who who are, who are trying to rebuild, etcetera, they talked about not being able to get basics such as water for many days already.

Yeah. It's very desperate for them because even just before the cyclone, the island that was dealing with chronic water shortages, and now, the destruction has just aggravated the situation. So we are staring at, a major humanitarian crisis that would come as a result of, the impacts of, Cyclone, Chidoo. So the relief, being sent, to the island in terms of medicine and food yesterday. A military aircraft arrived with, 3 tons of medical supplies and, also blood for transfusion and medical stuff.

So that's really going to be the point of focus. But as you say, it's it's a very poor, island, and so majority of the people, were built living in, you know, shanty, towns, which are midly you know, built using, semipominate, you know, equipment, say say, such as metal roofs. And so majority of them really are staring at a despondency right now, not really knowing, what really lies ahead.

Now what about the, the cyclone itself, Chido, causing chaos in Mozambique. What are you hearing about where it's headed next? Or if it's reduced in in terms of its intensity?

Yes. I just heard that from weather experts, in Mozambique who say that the cyclone has weakened in terms of strength. The last time I checked, you know, striking, the cyclone, it was, you know, at about, 95 kilometers per hour in terms of, the wind speeds. But when it landed, in the coastal city of Pemba in northern Mozambique, it caused quite some bit of destruction. So schools, hospitals, and homes have also been damaged.

Trees have been uprooted, and also electricity lines and communication lines have been cut off. And that we saw a lot of people, especially within, Malawi towards the southern bits of, the country around, Blantyre, you know, just trying to reinforce their houses in anticipation of the destruction that would be caused by the strong winds under the heavy rains that were coming.

So as as you say, it is hoped that this cyclone will weaken further before it it travels and cause devastation elsewhere?

Yes. And, that's why majority of the countries in Southern Africa, which had previously suffered from, previous episodes of which is titled Itai and, Freddie and, Gombe have been really on high a lot in, Zimbabwe and, Zambia, and even further north, in Tanzania, just educating the populations, to be on guard and taking, the precautions necessary, just to avoid destruction.

Richard Kagog, for now, thank you very much in our bureau in Nairobi.