French Prime Minister François Bayrou believes dozens of people died after the cyclone hit the territory, rather than thousands.

On Saturday, the French territory of Mayotte was overwhelmed by Cyclone Chido, a storm that left devastation and destruction in its wake. According to CNN, Cyclone Chido was a Category 4 storm which made its way through the southwestern Indian Ocean, hitting parts of northern Madagascar before it intensified and slammed into Mayotte.

Cyclone Chido not only ravaged Mayotte's infrastructure but also laid bare tensions between the island's residents and its migrant population.

The devastation from Cyclone Chido that shattered corrugated metal shacks and thousands of lives on the island of Mayotte was both immediate and long coming.

Early last Sunday, after a night spent working at a small Mayotte maternity ward as a vicious storm devastated the French islands, midwife Lucie Gerard learned that a stranded woman was giving birth in a nearby home.

France mourns victims of Cyclone Chido, which wreaked havoc on Mayotte, causing at least 35 deaths and leaving thousands injured and displaced. The cyclone severely damaged infrastructure. Local residents struggled to comprehend the disaster's severity,

France held a national day of mourning for Mayotte, its Indian Ocean territory devastated by a violent cyclone on Dec. 14, beginning in the morning on Monday with a minute of silence for the scores of residents left dead by the storm.