France deployed ships and military aircraft on Monday to bring rescue workers and supplies to its Indian Ocean territory, Mayotte, after the archipelago was hit by the worst cyclone in almost a century. Authorities fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died.

When Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte, France’s poorest department, on Saturday, it destroyed entire neighborhoods of metal smelters and other flimsy structures. Entire mountain villages became a jumble of broken trees and stacks of corrugated iron and wooden shacks.

Authorities used military vehicles to clear trees from roads so rescuers and relief supplies could reach those in need.

French Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq said the official death toll was 14, but told TV channel France 2 that this was likely a significant undercount “compared to the scale of the disaster.” The devastation itself – including damage to the main airport – hampered authorities’ ability to tally casualties and provide basic needs to survivors.

Power and communication lines are cut in large parts of Mayotte and authorities fear a shortage of drinking water. Meanwhile, the main hospital sustained significant damage.

According to Mayotte Senator Salama Ramia, people also began to starve. She told BFM-TV that many people who went to emergency shelters found terrible conditions.

“There is no water, no electricity. Hunger is increasing. There is an urgent need for help to arrive, especially when you see children and babies to whom we cannot offer anything concrete,” she said.

Mayotte, the poorest place in the European Union, is a densely populated archipelago of about 300,000 people, most of whom are Muslim, that lies between Madagascar and the African continent. According to the French weather service, many of its makeshift houses and streets were hit by Chido, bringing wind speeds of over 220 km/h (136 mph).

It was a Category 4 cyclone, the second strongest on the scale and the worst to hit Mayotte since the 1930s, said Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville.

Bieuville, the top French government official in the archipelago, told television channel Mayotte la 1ere on Sunday that the death toll from the cyclone was several hundred people and could even be in the thousands.

But he added that it was extremely difficult to count deaths and many may never be recorded, partly because of the Muslim tradition of burying people within 24 hours. Mayotte is also a destination for people from even poorer countries such as nearby Comoros and Somalia, who may have entered illegally and are therefore difficult to trace.

Rescue teams and supplies were sent from France and the nearby French territory of Réunion, which is serving as a bridge for aid to Mayotte.

French authorities said more than 800 more employees were expected in the coming days. The French government said it would use satellite data to assess the damage, prioritize aid and guide rescue teams.

The people of Mayotte have previously expressed dissatisfaction that their archipelago is suffering from under-investment and neglect by the French government. Last year, the French army took action to quell protests on the islands after a drought and mismanagement led to water shortages.

The French Interior Ministry said that shortly after the cyclone, 1,600 police and gendarmerie officers were deployed to “help the population and prevent possible looting.”

After hitting Mayotte, the cyclone moved further west and hit Mozambique on Sunday. The landlocked southern African states of Malawi and Zimbabwe are expected to be affected, although the spread has slowed significantly.

Local media in Mozambique reported that three people had died in the north of the country, but that too was a very early count. Aid groups have warned that more than 2 million people in the country could be affected. Meanwhile, Comoros President Azali Assoumani said in a statement that the damage to his country was minor.

In Mayotte, damage to the main airport, including its control tower, meant that only military aircraft were allowed in and out, complicating the response. Darrieussecq, the health minister, said the main hospital suffered significant water damage in the surgical, intensive care, emergency and maternity departments.

According to TF1 television, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau arrived in Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte, on Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron, who had promised urgent help, would host a meeting on the situation later on Monday at the Interior Ministry’s crisis center in Paris, his office said.

December to March is cyclone season in the southwest Indian Ocean, and southern Africa has been hit by a number of strong cyclones in recent years. Cyclone Idai killed more than 1,300 people in 2019, mostly in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Cyclone Freddy killed more than 1,000 people in several countries in the Indian Ocean and southern Africa last year.