At least 34 killed by Cyclone Chido in Mozambique, UN humanitarian agency says

At least 34 people have been killed by Cyclone Chido in Mozambique since it made landfall there on Sunday, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday, citing figures from the southern African country's disaster agency.

The small French island of Mayotte bore the brunt of the storm, and hundreds or even thousands are believed to have been killed there before it moved on to hit Mozambique on the eastern coast of southern Africa.

"As of 17 December 2024, a total of 174,158 people were estimated to be impacted, with 34 people dead and 319 injured," OCHA said in a statement, citing Mozambique's institute for natural disasters.

In Mayotte, authorities were on Tuesday racing to get food and water to residents stricken by the weekend's devastating cyclone and fighting to stop hunger, disease and lawlessness spreading in the French overseas territory, officials said.

Hundreds or even thousands could be dead in the wreckage of Cyclone Chido, they said.

The storm laid waste to large parts of the archipelago off East Africa, which is France's poorest overseas territory and a major destination for illegal immigration.

With many areas still inaccessible, it could take days to determine the full extent of damage and deaths.

So far, 22 deaths and more than 1,400 injuries have been confirmed, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, the mayor of the capital Mamoudzou, told Radio France Internationale on Tuesday morning.

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