France fears 'heavy' death toll from cyclone in Mayotte

PARIS: France's acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Saturday he feared a "heavy" toll from Cyclone Chido sweeping through Mayotte, after reports the islands' shantytown housing had been wiped out.

"To assess the situation, we have to be able to get on the ground, look at the rubble, the makeshift housing that has been completely destroyed," he said after an interministerial meeting on the crisis.

While it would probably take days to get an accurate death toll, "we fear that it is heavy", he added, describing a "dramatic situation" on the French Indian Ocean territory.