*

Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead from Cyclone

Chido

*

Establishing full damage and deaths will take days

*

Impoverished French islands are home to 321,000 people

*

Wreckage of destroyed houses strewn on hillsides

(Adds new comment from Mayotte resident paragraphs 5-6,

minute's silence paragraph 10)

By Dominique Vidalon and Abdou Moustoifa

PARIS/MORONI, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Emergency workers

searched for survivors on Monday and battled to restore services

in Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory, where hundreds

or even thousands, are feared dead from the worst cyclone to hit

the Indian Ocean islands in nearly a century.

Cyclone Chido devastated large parts of the archipelago off

east Africa over the weekend with winds of more than 200 kph

(124 mph), strewing homes over hillsides, and cutting phones,

power and drinking water.

With areas still inaccessible, France's acting Interior

Minister Bruno Retailleau said it would take days to ascertain

the full extent of damage and deaths as he arrived in the

disaster zone.

Residents queued outside grocery stores in search of water

and other basics.

"It really is a war landscape. I don't recognise anything

any more. There's not even a tree left, the hills, there's not a

blade of grass, it's extraordinary," Mayotte resident Camille

Cozon Abdourazak told Reuters by video call after her power was

restored.

"I found a shop open that had water. There were still a

few tins of milk left, so I was able to buy a tin of milk for my

baby and one for my friend's baby next door," she added.

Teacher Hamada Ali described streets that were covered in

mud and trees. People were sheltering in schools and bottled

water was being used for cooking, he said.

"Houses with sheet metal roofs were swept away by the

cyclone," he added.

Communications were down in large parts of the territory,

leaving relatives outside desperately enquiring on social media.

"I need an update from Chiconi please, my brother, my

sister-in-law and my niece are there and I'm without any news

since Saturday," said one.

French President Emmanuel Macron was to hold an emergency

meeting about Mayotte later on Monday. France's lower house of

parliament held a minute's silence.

Acting health minister Genevieve Darrieussecq said

Mamoudzou's main hospital was maintaining operations after

floodwaters damaged surgical and intensive care units while a

field clinic would be set up and 100 additional medics deployed.

More than three-quarters of Mayotte's 321,000 people live in

relative poverty. According to 2021 figures from statistics

agency INSEE, Mayotte has an annual median disposable income of

just over 3,000 euros ($3,150) per inhabitant, roughly eight

times less than the Ile-de-France region around Paris.

BIGGEST STORM IN 90 YEARS

The islands, close to the Comoros archipelago, first came

under France's control in 1841. Mayotte is made up of two main

islands over an area about twice the size of Washington DC.

It has been grappling with unrest in recent years, with many

residents angry at undocumented immigration and inflation.

The territory has become a stronghold for the far-right

National Rally with 60% voting for Marine Le Pen in the 2022

presidential election runoff.

Chido was the strongest storm to strike Mayotte in more than

90 years, French weather service Meteo France said.

Extreme weather events have become more common around the

globe, in keeping with global warming. Poorer nations often say

they are bearing the brunt of the environmental crisis despite

historically emitting far less CO2 than richer countries.

"It was evident that ... when a cyclone hit ... we would

find ourselves in a situation," leftwing lawmaker Eric Coquerel

told French broadcaster LCI, saying the destruction in Mayotte

laid bare a failure to prepare for the impact of climate change.

Around the territory, hundreds of makeshift houses were

smashed and scattered, according to images from local media and

the French gendarmerie. Coconut trees crashed through building

roofs, boats were upended, rubble covered cars and people

cowered under tables when the cyclone hit.

"I was screaming because I could see the end coming for

me," John Balloz, who lives in the capital Mamoudzou, told

Reuters.

After Mayotte, Chido made landfall in north Mozambique where

it quickly weakened and was reclassified as a tropical storm on

Sunday but still destroyed several houses, authorities said.

The prefect of Mayotte, Francois-Xavier Bieuville, said at

the weekend that deaths would definitely be in the hundreds and

possibly several thousand.

Maritime and aerial operations were underway to transport

relief supplies and equipment, including from Reunion Island,

another French overseas territory, French authorities said.

Mayotte's main airport, however, remained closed to civilian

flights on Monday morning, said Jean-Paul Bosland, the president

of France's national firefighters' federation.

($1 = 0.9525 euros)