France is racing to send rescue workers and supplies to Mayotte after the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hit the tiny Indian Ocean territory – with fears that thousands of people could be dead.
Cyclone Chido struck the islands of Mayotte with close to 140mph (225kmph) winds, and the death toll may reach a “thousand, even several thousands”, prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said. The French interior ministry warned that it would be “difficult to account for all the victims”, and that it was not yet possible to determine the death toll.
