Fears of thousands being killed after Hurricane Chido hit the French province of Mayotte

Rescue workers rushed Monday to reach the remote French province of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean after the archipelago was devastated Devastated by Typhoon ChidoIt is the worst storm to hit the region in nearly a century.

While the official death toll was 14 people, officials in Mayotte said they feared hundreds, if not thousands, were killed by the storm in the densely populated region, which is home to about 300,000 people, according to the Associated Press.

French authorities said entire neighborhoods — many consisting of poorly built informal settlements — were flattened, and public infrastructure including airports and hospitals were severely damaged, the Associated Press reported. Damage to the airport control tower meant that only military aircraft were allowed to land in Mayotte, complicating the rescue operation. Electricity was also reported to be out across the archipelago.

Rescue workers, soldiers, medical personnel and supplies were sent from France, as well as from the neighboring French department of Reunion. Mayotte is considered the poorest sovereign territory of any country in the European Union, yet it still attracts a large number of economic migrants from poorer neighboring countries, largely due to the social welfare system implemented by the French state there.

The French Red Cross told CBS News partner BBC News that about 100,000 people were living in temporary informal settlements on the island of Mayotte, most of which had been completely destroyed by Chido.

Hurricane season began in the southwestern Indian Ocean at the beginning of December, and Chido hit Mayotte on Saturday as a severe tropical cyclone — the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, the BBC reported. The cyclone made landfall on the larger island of Madagascar, south of Mayotte, late Sunday.

The BBC reported that Chido’s condition had likely worsened due to climate change. The BBC said that although the number of annual hurricanes has not increased in recent decades, more of them have been more intense, likely because warm air and seawater provide ideal conditions for feeding larger storms.