Thousands are feared dead after a devastating 100-year cyclone ripped across the French archipelago of Mayotte on Saturday, inflicting destruction that one resident likened to an atomic bomb. “The situation is catastrophic,

Officials on the archipelago off the eastern coast of Africa said the number of people killed by Tropical Cyclone Chido could be much higher than the 21 now confirmed dead.

France used ships and military aircraft to rush rescuers and supplies to Mayotte on Monday after the tiny French island territory off Africa was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century. Authorities fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died.