Cyclone Chido kills at least 120 in Mozambique after battering Mayotte (UPDATED)

Deutsche Welle
Tue, 17 Dec 2024 13:05 UTC

© UNICEF MOZAMBIQUE

Nearly 23,600 homes in Mozambique were destroyed by Cyclone Chido

At least 34 people have been killed in Mozambique by Cyclone Chido, authorities said on Tuesday, after the storm tore through the French island of Mayotte days earlier.

Mozambique's National Institute of Risk and Disaster Management said more than 300 others had been injured by Chido while nearly 23,600 homes and 170 fishing boats had been destroyed.

Overall, more than 175,000 people in Mozambique were affected by the storm, it said.

Chido made landfall on Cabo Delgado province on Sunday, where it claimed 28 lives, before claiming six more in Nampula province and Niassa, further inland.

Rescue crews are still working through the heavily damaged areas.

Mayotte imposes curfew

At the same time, authorities on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte imposed a curfew on Tuesday.

Earlier, officials had compared Chido's impact on the island to that of a nuclear war.

Thus far, the official death toll in Mayotte is 21, but authorities and rescue services have warned that the final count could be in the hundreds or even thousands. The curfew begins at 10 pm local time, and has been put in place to prevent looting, the Interior Ministry said.

Mayotte is one of several islands around the world that are part of France and ruled from Paris.

AFP, Reuters

Comment: Update December 18

News.Az reports:

The number of people killed in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido in Mozambique has risen to 45, according to authorities, News.az reports citing Xinhua.

President Filipe Nyusi expressed solidarity with the families who lost their loved ones and all those affected by the cyclone, which hit the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa Sunday.

Almost 500 people were injured, according to the latest official updates.

The government is mobilized to provide immediate support during this difficult time, Nyusi said in a post on social media. "We are present and mobilized to ensure that all necessary support is provided."

"I have sent teams to assess the situation on the ground and ensure that victims receive the necessary support," he said.

Update December 19

Channelstv.com reports:

Cyclone Chido has killed at least 73 people in Mozambique, the National Institute of Risk and Disaster Management said Thursday, raising the death toll from the figure of 45 it announced the day before.

Chido made landfall in Mozambique on Sunday after tearing through the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte where hundreds and possibly thousands of people are feared to have been killed.

The cyclone struck Mozambique at the northern Cabo Delgado province, where 66 people were killed, according to the disaster centre's updated toll.

Four were killed in Nampula province and three in Niassa, further inland, it said. One person was missing.

Update December 24

VOA reports:

Mozambique's disaster management agency reported Monday that Cyclone Chido had killed at least 120 people in the country in its deadly rampage through the Indian Ocean last week.

This, as the southern African nation tries to recover from a deadly post-election crisis.

Related: Cyclone Chido rips through Mayotte with winds in excess of 136 mph as it barrels toward eastern Africa - at least 31 dead, hundreds feared so