Source: The Independent [UK]
“Thousands of people are feared dead after the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century struck a small French [solonial] archipelago with 200kmph winds, a senior local official said on Sunday. The death toll on the islands of Mayotte may reach a ‘thousand, even several thousands,’ prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville told local news channel Mayotte La 1ere, after what forecaster Meteo-France said was the strongest storm to hit the archipelago in more than 90 years. Cyclone Chido struck Mayotte overnight and damaged a hospital, housing and government buildings, but the French interior ministry has warned it will be ‘difficult to account for all the victims,’ adding that they could not yet determine a death toll.” (12/16/24)