PARIS/MORONI — Several hundred people and possibly even thousands may have been killed when the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, a senior local French official said on Sunday (Dec 15).

"I think there will certainly be several hundreds, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousands," prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said on local media channel Mayotte La 1ere.

Asked about the death toll from Cyclone Chido, the French interior ministry said "it will be difficult to account for all victims" and a figure could not be determined at this stage.

Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte overnight, Meteo-France said, with winds of more than 200 kmh, damaging housing, government buildings and a hospital. It was the strongest storm in more than 90 years to hit the islands, the forecaster said.

"Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war… I saw an entire neighbourhood disappear," Mohamed Ishmael, a resident of Mayotte's capital Mamoudzou, told Reuters by phone.

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