France rushes help to Mayotte, where hundreds are feared dead from Cyclone Chido
NPRFrance rushes help to Mayotte, where hundreds are feared dead from Cyclone Chido toggle caption AP/UIISC7/Securite civile CAPE TOWN, South Africa — France was rushing help by ship and military aircraft to its poor overseas territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean on Monday after the island was shattered by its worst storm in nearly a century. Authorities in Mayotte fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died in Cyclone Chido, although the official death toll on Monday morning stood at 14. Mayotte Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville, the top French government official in Mayotte, told local TV station Mayotte la 1ere on Sunday that the death toll was several hundred people and could even be in the thousands. toggle caption AP/Medecins du Monde He said Mayotte's poor slums of metal shacks and other informal structures had suffered terrible damage and authorities were struggling to get an accurate count of the dead and injured after the worst cyclone to hit Mayotte since the 1930s.