France Rushes Aid to Mayotte, Island Territory ‘Devastated’ by Cyclone

The authorities in the French archipelago of Mayotte introduced a curfew on Tuesday as they rushed to get food and water into the territory in the aftermath of a tropical cyclone that killed at least 22 people and flattened entire neighborhoods.

Hundreds or even thousands are feared dead as a result of Tropical Cyclone Chido, which barreled into Mayotte, a series of islands off the eastern coast of Africa, over the weekend. French officials have said it could take days to know the true death toll, because roughly a third of the territory’s 320,000 residents are undocumented immigrants, and many live in shanty towns.

The cyclone also slammed into Mozambique with heavy rains and strong winds, killing at least 34 people and completely or partly destroying over 35,000 houses, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Aid agencies fear that number also may increase as the scale of the disaster becomes clearer.

Officials who toured Mayotte said the devastation had spared no corner of the tiny archipelago, France’s poorest territory. Videos released by France’s interior ministry showed emergency workers sawing through fallen trees to disentangle them from power lines and clear roads. About 70 percent of the road network has been cleared of debris from the storm, the ministry said on Tuesday.

Communication in the territory is still hampered by downed networks. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with over 200 volunteers in Mayotte.

The curfew will be enforced from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., France’s interior ministry said, although it said that unrest and looting had been minimal. President Emmanuel Macron of France is expected to visit in the coming days.