Rescue Team Defy Odds to Save Survivors of Cyclone Chido
Hundreds of persons are feared dead after a fierce cyclone hit the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte.
The incident, on Saturday, has left many of Mayotte’s shantytowns and airport destroyed, disabled electricity, water and communication links.
A rescue team, on Monday, are now defying the odds to rescue survivors.
“Cllose to a thousand or even several thousand,” Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville stated when referring to the anticipated death count.
The mayor of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, went further to reveal that the storm hit schools, hospitals and all other infrastructure in the poor territory.
French President, Emmanuel Macron, is now set to host a crisis meeting on the disaster in Paris at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT), a statement from the Presidency stated.
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About 160 soldiers and firefighters will be deployed to support the 110 already on ground.
The Interior Minister of France, Bruno Retailleau, will travel to Mayotte on Monday.
The storm which hit Mayotte was said to have been moving at a speed of about 226 kilometres (140 miles) per hour.
320,000 residents are said to be residing in the territory, with no less than one-thrid of that figure affected.
