MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday he will declare a national mourning period after a deadly cyclone slammed the Indian Ocean island territory of Mayotte, and said he will travel there in the coming days.
MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte — French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday he will declare a national mourning period after a deadly cyclone slammed the Indian Ocean island territory of Mayotte, and said he will travel there in the coming days.
“Chaos” is how resident Fahar Abdoulhamidi described the aftermath. In Mamoudzou, the capital, destruction was total: Schools, hospitals, restaurants and offices were in ruins.Hillside villages were reduced to snapped trees and piles of corrugated metal by winds in excess of 220 kph , according to the French weather service.
“Nobody believed it would be that big,” Abdoulhamidi told The Associated Press by phone. “Those who live in bangas stayed in despite the cyclone, fearing their homes would be looted,” he said, referring to the island’s informal settlements.Mayotte is a densely populated archipelago between Madagascar and the African continent of more than 320,000 people, according to the French government. Most are Muslim.
Bieuville on Sunday asserted that the death toll was several hundred people and could even be in the thousands. But he added it would be extremely hard to count the deaths and many might never be recorded, in part because of the Muslim tradition of burying people within 24 hours.
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