Their efforts will be hindered by the damage to airports and electricity distribution in the French Indian Ocean territory.
“I think there will definitely be several hundred, perhaps we will come close to a thousand or even several thousand” deaths, prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville told broadcaster Mayotte la Premiere.
It would be “very difficult to reach a final count” given that most residents are Muslim, traditionally burying their dead within 24 hours, Bieuville added.
“Our hearts go out to France following the devastating passage of cyclone Chido through Mayotte,“ she posted on X. “We are ready to provide support in the days to come.”
PIROI, the Red Cross organisation in the region, said on X that it was ready to intervene.
Earlier Sunday, the mayor of Mayotte's capital Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, told AFP nine were in a critical condition in hospital, with another 246 more seriously injured.
Establishing an accurate will be doubly difficult given that France's interior ministry estimates around 100,000 people live clandestinely on Mayotte.
Many had stayed put “until the last minute” when it proved to late to escape the cyclone, she added.
Mayotte's 320,000 residents were ordered into lockdown Saturday as cyclone Chido bore down on the islands around 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Mozambique, with gusts of at least 226 kilometres per hour.
One local resident, Ibrahim, told AFP of “apocalyptic scenes” as he made his way through the main island, having to clear blocked roads for himself.
Pope Francis, visiting French Mediterranean island Corsica on Sunday, urged people to pray for Mayotte's residents. French President Macron promised they would act to help the people there.
Already Sunday, medical personnel and equipment were delivered Sunday by air and sea.
It carried three tonnes of medical supplies, blood for transfusions and 17 medical staff, authorities in La Reunion said, with two military aircraft expected to follow.
Just northwest of Mayotte, the Comoros islands, some of which had been on red alert since Friday, were also hit, but suffered only minor damage.
UNICEF said it was on the ground in Mozambique to help the people hit by the storm.
Cyclone Chido is the latest in a string of storms worldwide fuelled by climate change, according to experts.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that some 1.7 million people were in danger, and said the remnants of the cyclone could also dump “significant rainfall” on neighbouring Malawi through Monday, potentially triggering flash floods.
Zimbabwe and Zambia could also expect heavy rains, it added.
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