• Source:JND
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Mayotte Cyclone:  Thousands are feared dead after the most powerful storm in nearly a century, Cyclone Chido hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, French officials said, as reported by news agency Reuters on Monday. Local French officials said that reaching an absolute figure would be difficult at this time due to the vast scale of the tragedy.

Cyclone Chido struck the small archipelago on the intervening night of 15 and 16 December with speeds around 200 KMPH, wreaking havoc on the infrastructure of the islands. Hundreds of houses, government buildings and a hospital were damaged. All roads and other means of transportation were severely hit in the storm, a local broadcaster said.

Cyclone Chido is being touted as the strongest storm in more than 90 years to hit the islands, the forecaster said.

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 "I think there will certainly be several hundred, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousand," a French official Francois-Xavier Bieuville said on the local media channel Mayotte La 1ere.

France's Interior Ministry said that it will be difficult to account for all the victims of the Chido and a death count won't be available immediately.

"...it will be difficult to account for all victims and a figure could not be determined at this stage," the ministry said as quoted by Reuters.

"Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war... I saw an entire neighbourhood disappear," Mohamed Ishmael, a resident of Mayotte's capital Mamoudzou, told Reuters by phone.

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Videos Showed Scale Of Destruction

Drone videos shared by French officials showed the hundreds of makeshift houses laid to waste across the hills of one of Mayotte's islands. Coming to the number of exact casualties would be nearly impossible as many were living on the island illegally, the report added.

Local media shared images of a mother navigating a flooded hospital corridor in Mayotte, pushing her newborn’s crib. Capsized police boats were seen washed ashore, and coconut trees had toppled onto the roofs of numerous buildings.