Mayotte, Cyclone-Hit French Territory, Imposes Curfew as Aid Is Rushed In

The authorities in the French archipelago of Mayotte introduced a curfew on Tuesday as they rushed to get food and water into the territory in the aftermath of a tropical cyclone that killed at least 22 people and flattened entire neighborhoods.

Hundreds or even thousands are feared dead as a result of Tropical Cyclone Chido, which barreled into Mayotte, a series of islands off the eastern coast of Africa, over the weekend, with wind gusts of up to 124 miles per hour.

The cyclone then slammed into Mozambique with heavy rains and strong winds, killing at least 34 people and completely or partly destroying over 35,000 houses, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Officials who toured Mayotte said the devastation had spared no corner of the tiny archipelago, France’s poorest territory. French officials have cautioned that counting all of the victims there will be difficult, because roughly a third of the territory’s 320,000 residents are undocumented immigrants, and many live in shoddily built shanty towns that were torn apart by the storm.

The curfew will be enforced from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., France’s interior ministry said, although it said that unrest and looting had been minimal.

Videos released by France’s interior ministry showed emergency workers sawing through fallen trees to disentangle them from power lines and clear roads. About 70 percent of the road network has been cleared of debris from the storm, the ministry said on Tuesday.