Worst Cyclone in 90 Years Slams French Territory, Hundreds Feared Dead

Tropical Cyclone Chido struck the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Saturday and is estimated to have killed hundreds of people.

Chido is the worst storm in 90 years to strike the territory, which is in the Indian Ocean.

Hospital officials in Mayotte confirmed that the storm killed at least 11 people and wounded some 250 others, but a top official told local news outlet Mayotte La 1ere Sunday that he expects the death toll to skyrocket.

"I think the death toll will certainly be several hundreds, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousands," Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville stated, adding that the count of 11 dead and 250 injured is "not plausible." "There is also the Muslim tradition of burying the dead in less than 24 hours."

"Some deaths will not be counted," the prefect added.

According to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Tropical Cyclone Chido was at least equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic at the time it made landfall in Mayotte.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that he's closely following the situation.

"Our island is at this moment deeply affected by the most violent and destructive cyclone that we have seen since 1934. Many of us have lost everything," Bieuville wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

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