Inside Africa: Mayotte Crumbles under Cyclone Chido

pixabay

The eye of a tropical cyclone is eerily calm. While winds that can launch trees, cars, and even homes into the airs whirl around it in a vicious spiral, within the eye, which forms the centre of storms trailing destruction along the surface of the earth, there is no wind, and the sun shines a bright ‘spring-like warmth’. It is also the point with the lowest air pressure. Standard atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1 013.25 millibars -- the lower the air pressure drops, the stronger the storm. In the Indian ocean, it reached 929 millibars on the 12th December.

Mayotte is a small island on the archipelago north of Madagascar, officially a region of France. As Cyclone Chido made its way across the Indian Ocean, the eye of the storm passed directly over the island on the morning of the 14th December. This is how Mayotte experienced its strongest storm in 90 years. The small surface of land is not a stranger to tropical storms. But when the eye chances right over a designated spot, the surrounding area becomes the victim of devastating weather.

Wind speeds over 200 kilometres per hour were recorded at around 10 and 11 am and up to 176mm of rainfall occurred as the storm hit the coast of Mayotte, which was battered by over five metre waves. Petite-Terre, a smaller island also part of Mayotte, was the first area to be hit by the storm. The towns of Dzaoudzi and Pamandzi were vastly destroyed.

As it reached the capital city of Mamoudzou on the main island called Grande-Terre, “most buildings failed to withstand the devastating winds” according to Le Monde. Comparisons of satellite images taken before and after the storm reveal neighborhoods of the city completely devastated, and patches of trees wiped out. The small port which once docked a few dozen sailboats and fishing boats, has been swallowed up by the ocean or displaced by the winds. It no longer exists.

There had been warnings of the storm in advance. Météo-France, which is responsible for weather readings in the entire region of the western Indian Ocean, announced an amber-alert 24 hours before the storm hit the island. It increased to a red alert issued in the evening of the 13th, and a violet alert hours before the storm hit the island.

Yet, there might have been a more informed anticipation of the cyclone. According to zoom earth, Chido became a cyclone at 6am on the 11th December, days before it reached Mayotte. At the time, it was passing over the Agalega islands, two tiny islands trapped in the Indian ocean, governed by Mauritius. Communications were severed with the islands due to the destruction of the storm, yet satellite images confirm the few homes and buildings that it has were devastated.

Chido increased to ‘very intense tropical cyclone’ between 3am and 3pm on the 12 December, two days before it reached Mayotte. While it decreased to ‘intense tropical cyclone’ as it made its way across norther Madagascar on the 13th, the storms trajectory at this time was clearly defined and headed for Mayotte with a consistently worrying severity.

Though the peak intensity on Mayotte was somewhat underestimated, Dr. Alex Barker of the University of Reading said, “the track of the cyclone was quite well forecast, with the key landfall areas and the possibility of re-intensification being identified in warnings several days ahead.” 

Residents of Mayotte would have received notifications on their phones, many ignoring them and staying home as previous experience told them it would “just be a bit of rain”. This decision proved to have disastrous consequences. Yet for many, viable alternatives were scarce, leaving them with few other choices.

Mayotte is a small island, and relatively poor (said to be the poorest region of France). Most people live in small houses made of materials such as wood and corrugated iron. It takes winds far weaker than 200 kph to damage them. Many perished under the weight of their collapsing homes, and those who survived have been left homeless.

Copernicus, the EU’s earth observation institution, estimates 23 100 of Mayotte’s 35 437 built up structures were potentially affected (65%). It suggests 8 932 of them were in Mamoudzou. France’s Ministère de l’Intérieur (Ministry of the Interior), responsible for cohesion of national institutions within French Territory, believes that up to 70% of inhabitants were seriously affected by the cyclone.

While the official count of deaths is at 39 people, the true number is unknown. François-Xavier Bieuville, the local prefect of Mayotte, believed the number of dead would “definitely be several hundred” and suggested it may even be in the thousands. François Bayrou, France’s newly appointed Prime Minister, downplayed this fear in an interview recently. 

Yet, Islamic custom demands that burying deceased should occur promptly, and Mayotte’s population is almost entirely Muslim. Mayotte, which has a population of 320 000 is also the host of roughly 100,000 to 200,000 illegal residents mostly originating from the nearby Comoros Islands, which unlike Mayotte decided for independence from France in 1978 and is even poorer than its neighbouring island. These factors play a role in why current estimates of the number of dead are unclear.

President Emmanuel Macron arrived to the island on Thursday 26th December, bringing with him four tonnes of food and health equipment. It comes with a broader response of more than 100 tonnes of food which were planned to be distributed on Grande-Terre, and a 180-ton cargo carried by the Marine Nationale (French Navy), designed to bring aid to Mayotte’s residents, who have been complaining of mainland France neglecting its vulnerability to severe weather for years.

When Macron addressed the public in an organised gathering on Thursday evening, he was met with a mixed reception of cheers and heckles. Many asked where France’s support had been in preventing the catastrophe. Macron retorted: “I am not behind the cyclone. You can reproach me if you want - it’s not my fault.” As crowds became more agitated, France’s president - Mayotte’s president - became more argumentative. 

“You have lived something terrible! Everybody is fighting, no matter what skin colour. So don’t oppose people. If you oppose people, we are all screwed. Are you happy to be in France? Because if it wasn’t France, you would be 10,000 times more in shit. There is no other place in the Indian Ocean where people are helped this much, that’s the reality. You can’t wish to be a region of France and say that it doesn’t work in that France is in solidarity. Which other territory of this region delivers water and sanitation as we do here? So, everybody has to respect one another. We will hold on until the end if we remain a team. You have a simple choice - are you a team or are you divided?” 

His statement, which made controversies across many media platforms for its tone and language, speaks towards a broader frustration between Franco-African relations. Many Africans view the ex-colonial power as a deceptive and even malignant agent which tries to continue a once oppressive colonial exploitation behind the veil of diplomacy. Yet, the case of Mayotte is slightly different. The archipelago voted in a 1745 referendum to remain part of French soil. It has since not expressed the desire to sever from France. Macron’s words to the people of Mayotte reinforce that very fact.

He overlooks however that despite his support and French efforts to aid, the devastation of Mayotte was caused by the island’s lack of appropriate infrastructure. Anticipation of the cyclone would also have helped Mayotte’s residents reinforce their homes and seek shelter. A lack thereof has resulted in much of the island being destroyed. Rebuilding Mayotte will take time and cost much. It will seek the help of the country which it belongs to: France.