Cyclone Chido has emerged as the most devastating storm to strike the French overseas territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean in nearly nine decades, according to media reports.

The storm developed from a tropical depression in the southeastern Indian Ocean between December 7 and 8. A tropical depression is characterised by an area of low pressure over the ocean, accompanied by circular wind patterns generated by thunderstorms, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 61km/h (38mph) or less.

When wind speeds increase to between 62km/h (39mph) and 119km/h (74mph), a tropical depression can intensify into a tropical storm. Wind speeds exceeding 119km/h classify it as a tropical cyclone.

The terminology surrounding such storms can be confusing. In the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and northeastern Pacific Ocean, tropical cyclones are referred to as hurricanes. In the western Pacific, they are known as typhoons, while in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, they are simply called cyclones.

Cyclone Chido intensified as it struck Mayotte, an archipelago with a population of 320,000 located off the east coast of Africa. Although Mayotte is situated in the Indian Ocean, it is an overseas department of France, governed directly from Paris. Unfortunately, it is also France’s poorest region, with approximately one-third of its residents living in shanty towns.

The cyclone has adversely affected neighboring countries in southeastern Africa, unleashing heavy rainfall and damaging homes in Madagascar, Mozambique, and the Comoros Islands before it began to weaken.

Early reports indicate that at least three people have lost their lives in Mozambique, according to local officials speaking to the AFP news agency. The storm’s impact continues to be assessed as recovery efforts begin in the affected regions.

Cyclone Chido struck Mayotte on Saturday morning, unleashing wind speeds exceeding 220km/h (137 mph). It made landfall as a tropical storm in Mozambique the following morning.

Chido was an exceptionally powerful storm, classified as a Category 4 hurricane at the time it hit Mayotte, making it the second strongest type of storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale.