Cyclone Chido batters France's Mayotte , killing at least two

The two confirmed deaths came on Petite-Terre, the smaller of Mayotte's two major islands, a security source said.

Also on Petite-Terre, the Pamandzi airport "suffered major damage, especially to the control tower," acting Transport Minister Francois Durovray said on X.

Air traffic "will be restored initially with military aid planes. Ships are on the way to ensure resupply," he added.

Across Mayotte, France's poorest department 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Mozambique, "many of us have lost everything," said prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville.

Chido had proved to be "the most violent and destructive cyclone we've seen since 1934," he added.

France's newly-installed Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, who has yet to name his cabinet, will hold a crisis meeting in Paris on Saturday evening, his office said.

Mayotte's alert level has been lowered from violet -- the highest- -- to red to allow emergency responders to leave their bases.

But "the cyclone is not over," prefect Bieuville warned, urging Mayotte's roughly 320,000 people to remain "locked down".

Communications with Mayotte are largely interrupted.

A resident on the main island of Grande Terre, Ibrahim Mcolo, had earlier described fallen electricity masts, roofs ripped off homes and trees uprooted as the first gusts struck.

"There is no more electricity," he said from his home, where he had barricaded himself in.

"Even in our house, which is well protected, the water is getting in. I can feel it trembling."

"It is a time of emergency," President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X, telling Mayotte residents that "the whole country is by your side" and thanking emergency responders.

Acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau posted that 140 fresh troops and firefighters would be sent to the scene on Sunday to help with recovery, more than doubling the deployment sent earlier in the week.