The survivors of an “apocalyptic” cyclone – the worst in nearly a century – are counting the price of the horror storm.

4 days after the tempest ripped by way of the French island territory of Mayotte off the coast of Africa, survivors recalled the horror of the storm that shocked many.

French navy personnel and others rushed to clear fallen palm bushes from roads forward of French President Emmanuel Macron’s Thursday go to. Streets had been lined with the rubble of casual settlements whose migrant populations complicate the efforts to depend the lifeless.

“We lived one thing very apocalyptic,” mentioned Samuel Anli, a 28-year-old native who rode out Saturday’s storm in a windowless workplace, the place he huddled for hours as shrieking wind gusts exceeding 136 mph tore away doorways and partitions.

He and others held the door to their small workplace shut, fearing for his or her lives. “We thought if it lasted one or two hours extra, we might all be lifeless,” he mentioned.

His house was partly destroyed, and three of his kinfolk had been injured by flying steel. French authorities described Wednesday’s storm as a “disaster of remarkable depth.”

“The island is devastated,” they mentioned, placing the confirmed loss of life toll at 31 however noting that it might be a lot increased, partly due to the Muslim follow of burying the lifeless inside 24 hours of dying.

Some survivors and help teams have described hasty burials and the stench of our bodies.

Mayotte, within the Indian Ocean between the east coast of mainland Africa and northern Madagascar, is France’s poorest territory and a magnet for migrants hoping to achieve Europe.

The cyclone was probably the most highly effective storm to strike the territory in practically a century. It devastated total neighborhoods. Many ignored the warnings, pondering the storm can be much less excessive.

Days after it handed and destroyed or broken even sturdy constructions reminiscent of well being facilities, residents had been left to select their approach by way of a panorama trying to find meals. Telephone and web service remained spotty.

Among the many broken and destroyed properties in Mayotte’s capital, Mamoudzou, individuals lined up with jugs to get water on Wednesday or waited to cost their telephones. Different traces stretched for hours at working fuel stations.

The French authorities deployed gendarmes and different safety forces Wednesday to safe meals distribution factors and guarantee order in areas the place crowds had been massing to search out gasoline or telephone alerts, the Inside Ministry mentioned. The ministry famous that greater than 8,800 individuals had been housed in emergency shelters.

Dozens of French navy personnel camped on the main airport on Mayotte’s predominant island, Grand Terre. The airport remained closed resulting from harm, leaving most locals with little hope of leaving quickly.

The highway community was additionally extensively broken. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has mentioned greater than 1,500 individuals had been injured, together with greater than 200 critically.

However authorities concern that tons of and even hundreds of individuals have died. Authorities mentioned 100,000 had been residing in a “precarious scenario.”

On the French island of Reunion, a couple of three-hour flight away, family members got here collectively to donate help to Mayotte’s survivors. Some mentioned their households in Mayotte had no meals or water and that it had taken days to contact a few of them.

“It’s tough as a result of I really feel helpless,” mentioned 19-year-old Khayra Djoumoi Thany.

Anrafa Parassouramin additionally has household in Mayotte. “We’re additionally afraid of illness outbreaks, as a result of persons are consuming water from wherever they will get it, and it isn’t essentially potable water,” she mentioned.

French Well being Minister Genevieve Darrieussecq has raised issues concerning the danger of a cholera epidemic on the archipelago, which had an outbreak of a extremely drug-resistant pressure of the illness earlier this 12 months.

French authorities mentioned the distribution of 23 tons of water started Wednesday. Francois-Noel Buffet, the French minister for abroad issues, informed French radio Europe 1 that the water provide system was “working at 50%” and introduced a danger of “poor high quality.”

Electrical energy has been partially restored. Mayotte’s hospital was severely broken. Buffet mentioned a discipline hospital needs to be operational by early subsequent week.
In response to the French navy, a navy ship was resulting from arrive in Mayotte on Thursday with 180 tons of help and tools.

Macron’s workplace mentioned he would journey to Mayotte with the help cargo and go to the hospital and a destroyed neighborhood. “Our compatriots reside by way of the worst just some thousand kilometers away,” Macron mentioned in an announcement.

On Tuesday night, the channel mentioned a public broadcaster France 2 program raised $5.24 million in help for Mayotte by way of the Basis of France charity.