Several hundred people and possibly even thousands may have died as the strongest cyclone in nearly a century hit the Mayotte archipelago in the French Indian Ocean, a senior local French official said on Sunday.

“I think it will certainly be several hundred, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousand,” Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said on local media channel Mayotte La 1ere.

When asked about the death toll from Cyclone Chido, the French Interior Ministry replied: “It will be difficult to count all the victims” and a number cannot be determined at this time.

Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte overnight with winds of more than 200 km/h, Meteo-France said, damaging homes, government buildings and a hospital. The meteorologist said it was the strongest storm to hit the islands in more than 90 years.

“Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are in the middle of a nuclear war… I saw a whole neighborhood disappear,” Mohamed Ishmael, a resident of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, told Reuters by phone .

Aerial photos shared by the French gendarmerie showed the rubble of hundreds of makeshift houses scattered across the hills of one of Mayotte’s islands, a hotspot for illegal immigration from the nearby Comoros.

Local media images showed a mother pushing a newborn’s cot through the flooded corridor of the hospital in Mayotte. Capsized police boats lay on the shore while coconut trees had fallen through the roofs of many buildings.

“My thoughts are with our compatriots in Mayotte who went through the most terrible hours and some of whom lost everything, lost their lives,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.

In recent decades, thousands of people have tried to reach Mayotte from the Comoros, off the coast of East Africa, which has a higher standard of living and access to the French welfare system.

According to the French Interior Ministry, there are over 100,000 illegal migrants living in Mayotte.

According to authorities, it was difficult to determine the exact death toll following the cyclone, which also raised concerns about access to food, water and sanitation.

“As for the toll, it becomes complicated because Mayotte is a Muslim country where the dead are buried within 24 hours,” a French Interior Ministry official said earlier.

Mayotte is almost 5,000 miles from Paris and is significantly poorer than the rest of France. It has struggled with gang violence and social unrest for decades.

More than three quarters of the people in Mayotte live below the French poverty line. Tensions were exacerbated by a water shortage earlier this year.

The government announced that an airlift would be established from the island of La Réunion, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar.

The disaster is the first challenge for Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, days after he was appointed following the collapse of Macron’s previous government.

The cyclone continued to hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, but the full extent of the impact was unclear. Internet monitor NetBlocks said on X that heavy rain and wind had damaged power and telecommunications infrastructure.

In the Comoros, authorities said two people were slightly injured, 24 were displaced and 21 houses were destroyed.

France colonized Mayotte in 1843 and annexed the entire archipelago, including the Comoros, in 1904.

In a referendum in 1974, 95% supported secession, but 63% of Mayotte supporters voted to remain French. Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli declared their independence in 1975. Mayotte is still governed from Paris.