Emergency workers and families on Monday desperately searched for victims after a storm devastated the French territory of Mayotte, off the eastern coast of Africa. Officials fear that hundreds or even thousands could be dead, far higher than the current confirmed toll of 21.

       Tropical Storm Chido, which hit over the weekend, destroyed homes, schools and businesses on the tiny archipelago, with wind gusts of up to 124 miles per hour. Forecasters said that it was the worst storm in 90 years to hit the territory.

       Mohamed Abdallah, the father of a family of seven, said that they had “lost everything.” As he picked up pieces of iron on the streets to rebuild a shelter on Monday, he said, “It will take us a while to even be safe.”

       France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, led an emergency meeting in Paris on Monday evening to coordinate the government’s response. He said afterward that he would soon go to Mayotte and declare a period of national mourning.

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       France is sending over 1,200 firefighters, security forces and rescue workers, and has started aid flights carrying tons of tents, beds, food and water from Réunion, another French territory in the region.

       The interior ministry said that 21 people had died in the hospital, and that over 1,300 people had been injured. However, Fran？ois-Xavier Bieuville, France’s top-ranking representative on Mayotte, told a local news channel, “I think that there will be several hundred” deaths.

       The New York Times

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