Death toll in Mayotte 'several hundred' after Cyclone Chido, top official says
December 15
Cyclone Chido blew through the French territory of Mayotte, an island between Mozambique and Madagascar, on Friday and Saturday, leaving devastation in its path.
Click through to see the impact of the cyclone.
The death toll in the French territory of Mayotte from Cyclone Chido is "several hundred" and may run into the thousands, the island's top government official told a local broadcaster on Sunday.
France rushed rescue teams and supplies to its largely poor overseas department in the Indian Ocean that has suffered widespread destruction.
"I think there are some several hundred dead, maybe we'll get close to a thousand. Even thousands ... given the violence of this event,″ Mayotte Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville told TV station Mayotte la 1ere.
He had previously said it was the worst cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years.
Chido blew through the southwestern Indian Ocean on Friday and Saturday, also affecting the nearby islands of Comoros and Madagascar.
Mayotte was directly in the cyclone's path, though, and took the brunt.
Chido brought winds in excess of 220km/h (136m/h), according to the French weather service, making it a category 4 cyclone, the second strongest on the scale.
Later, Chido made landfall in Mozambique on the African mainland and there were fears for more than two million people in the country's north who could be impacted, according to authorities there.
The French Interior Ministry confirmed at least 11 deaths and more than 250 injuries earlier on Sunday but said that was expected to increase substantially.
Mayotte in the southwestern Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa is France's poorest island and the poorest territory in the European Union. It has a population of just over 300,000 spread over two main islands.
Rescuers and firefighters were sent from France and the nearby French territory of Reunion and supplies were also rushed in on military aircraft and ships. Damage to the airport's control tower meant only military aircraft were able to fly in.
Bieuville said the worst devastation had been seen in the slums of metal shacks and informal structures that mark much of Mayotte. Referring to the official death toll so far, he said ″this figure is not plausible when you see the images of the slums."
"I think the human toll is much higher," he added.
Here, French Army soldiers remove fallen trees felled by the cyclone.
December 12
The US is dealing with some pretty extreme weather conditions currently.
It's a tale of two cities, with half of the country experiencing heat waves and wildfires and the other half anticipating a cyclone bomb.
Southern California has been hit with high fire danger as wildfires burn out-of-control in Malibu.
Residents have been urged to leave their homes including Cher and Dick Van Dyke due to the severity of the situation.
In good news - weather conditions have improved with the strongest winds now passed.
Much of the devastation occurred in Malibu, a community of about 10,000 people on the western edge of Los Angeles known for its stunning bluffs and Zuma Beach, which features in many Hollywood films.
Flames burned near horse farms, celebrities' seaside mansions, and Pepperdine University, where students were forced to shelter in place on campus for a second night yesterday.
With much of the coastal city under evacuation orders and warnings, residents waited anxiously to see whether their properties had been spared by the fire, which erupted earlier this week.
The blaze, dubbed the Franklin Fire, is just seven per cent contained.
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