By Michel Rose PARIS (Reuters) -Several hundred people, maybe even thousands, may have been killed by Cyclone Chido in the French archipelago of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, a senior local French official said on Sunday.

Tropical Cyclone Chido struck southeast Africa, killing "perhaps a few thousand" in France's Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Saturday and then hitting Mozambique on Sunday, officials said.

The death toll from a cyclone which hit France's Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Saturday is likely to be several hundred, a local official has warned. Entire communities were flattened when Cyclone Chido made landfall, causing wind gusts of more than 225km/h (140mph).