France declared "exceptional natural disaster" measures for Mayotte on Wednesday as authorities grappled with the full scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Chido on the Indian Ocean archipelago,

Authorities in the French overseas territory of Mayotte could still confirm only 31 deaths on Wednesday from Cyclone Chido, more than four days after it swept through the Indian Ocean archipelago, causing mayhem and killing possibly thousands.

They clustered around water taps, rare sources of electricity and each other. Four days after the strongest cyclone in nearly a century ripped through the French island territory of Mayotte off the coast of Africa,