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.

Local officials in the French territory Mayotte fear as many as 1,000 people have died after Tropical Cyclone Chido hit the archipelago off the coast of Mozambique on Saturday.

Officials on the archipelago off the eastern coast of Africa said the number of people killed by Tropical Cyclone Chido could be much higher than the 21 now confirmed dead.