Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has affirmed Kenya's solidarity with the Mayotte Community after devastating cyclone Chido left several people dead.
The Mayotte is a community living in the archipelago of the Indian Ocean under the control of France.
The archipelago was devastated by Cyclone Chido, the worst storm to hit the region in nearly a century.
Mudavadi, who is the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs said on Tuesday that Kenya stands in solidarity with the "resilient community of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, as they face the aftermath of one of the most devastating storms in nearly a century."
"Cyclone Chido’s ferocious winds, exceeding 225 km/hour, left a trail of destruction, flattening homes and causing immense hardship,'' Mudavadi said in a post on his official X account.
"This tragedy touches all of us deeply. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Mayotte. May they find the strength and courage to rebuild and heal during this challenging time," he said.
While the official death toll stood at 14, officials in Mayotte have claimed they feared hundreds, if not thousands of people had been killed by the storm on the densely populated territory, which is home to around 300,000.
According to the Associated Press, French authorities said entire neighborhoods — many of which consisted of poorly constructed slum settlements — had been flattened, and public infrastructure including airports and hospitals was badly damaged.
Damage to the airport control tower meant only military aircraft could land in Mayotte, complicating the rescue response.
Electricity has also reportedly been knocked out across the archipelago, AP reported.
Rescue workers, soldiers, medical personnel, and supplies have been sent from France, as well as from the nearby French territory of Reunion.
Mayotte is regarded as the poorest territory that falls under the sovereignty of any European Union nation.
It draws a significant number of economic migrants from nearby nations that are even poorer, due largely to the French state welfare system being implemented there.
Cyclone season in the southwestern Indian Ocean began at the start of December, and Chido hit Mayotte on Saturday as an intense tropical cyclone — the equivalent of a category-4 hurricane, the BBC reported.
It made landfall on the much larger island nation of Madagascar, just south of Mayotte, late Sunday.
