LIVE. Cyclone Chido in Mayotte: Bruno Retailleau arrives on the archipelago, crisis meeting at the ministry… follow the situation in real time

Mayotte was devastated by a deadly cyclone this Saturday, December 14, 2024. screenshot – X/GENDARMERIE NATIONALE

A race against time has begun to help the victims of Mayotte. The French archipelago in the Indian Ocean was devastated by a deadly cyclone this Saturday, December 14, 2024. Water and food are in short supply and rescue teams are being mobilized to find survivors in the rubble of the shanty towns.

The essentials

With gusts of over 220 km/h, Cyclone Chido, the most intense that Mayotte has experienced in 90 years, ravaged the small archipelago on Saturday, December 14, 2024, where about a third of the population lives in precarious housing, which was completely destroyed An air and sea bridge was organized from the French island of Réunion, a territory 1,400 kilometers away, to send medical and rescue equipment and personnel French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a meeting devoted to the situation in Mayotte this Monday, December 16, 2024 at 6 p.m. 10:04 a.m.

“We are afraid of being attacked, robbed”

“We are afraid of being attacked, robbed”, confided a nurse at the Mayotte hospital center to the BFMTV channel. Some 1,600 police officers and gendarmes are mobilized on the ground, in particular to “prevent looting” , the prefect indicated.

10:02.

“It's carnage,” testifies a retired nurse on the scene

“It's carnage. The court, the prefecture, many services, shops, schools are on the ground”, Ousseni Balahachi, a retired nurse, told AFP from Mamoudzou, the administrative centre of Mayotte. Destroyed huts, blown-off tin roofs, downed electricity poles, uprooted trees… The inhabitants, who remained confined during the passage of the cyclone, discovered, stunned, scenes of chaos. Many roads are impassable and many communications cut. The resumption of commercial flights is not expected before “at best ten days” according to a prefectural source.

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09:44.

Bruno Retailleau arrives in Mayotte

The resigning Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, has just arrived in Mayotte, according to BFM .

09:41.

“A very degraded situation with a very damaged hospital”

The resigning Minister of Health, Geneviève Darrieussecq, gave an update on the health emergencies in Mayotte on the set of Telematin, on France 2. “We have a very degraded situation with a very damaged hospital and inoperable medical centers. I called on the health reserve and I requested the massive dispatch of equipment.”

09:39.

Crisis meeting at 6 p.m. at the ministry

A crisis meeting on the situation in Mayotte, chaired by Emmanuel Macron, will take place this evening at 6 p.m. at the Ministry of the Interior, the Elysée indicated, underlines BFM .

09h36.

The airlift between Mayotte and Reunion Island is in place

The resigning Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu confirmed that “the airlift between Mayotte and Reunion Island is in place , in a press release posted on X on the evening of December 15, 2024. For the accommodation of the relief, three structures capable of accommodating 150 people are on site, with an additional one currently on its way. Military rations and generators are made available” .

09:33.

Hello and welcome to this live broadcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to monitoring the situation in Mayotte after the passage of cyclone Chido.