Cyclone Chido

Intense Tropical Cyclone Chido

Cyclone Chido at peak intensity on 12 December.
Meteorological history
Formed	5 December 2024
Dissipated	16 December 2024
Intense tropical cyclone
10-minute sustained (MFR)
Highest winds	215 km/h (130 mph)
Lowest pressure	935 hPa (mbar); 27.61 inHg
Category 4-equivalent tropical cyclone
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/JTWC)
Highest winds	250 km/h (155 mph)
Lowest pressure	929 hPa (mbar); 27.43 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities	172+ (confirmed) "hundreds-to-thousands" (estimated)
Injuries	6,534
Missing	200+ (confirmed) "thousands to tens-of thousands" (estimated)
Damage	$3.9 billion (2024 USD) (Costliest tropical cyclone in the South-West Indian Ocean basin)
Areas affected	Mauritius (particularly Agaléga) Seychelles (particularly Farquhar) northern Madagascar French Southern and Antarctic Lands (particularly the Glorioso Islands) Mayotte Comoros Mozambique Malawi
IBTrACS
Part of the 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season

Intense Tropical Cyclone Chido was a compact but very powerful, destructive, and deadly tropical cyclone which impacted Southeast Africa in December 2024. Chido, which means a desire in Shona, was the third named storm and the second intense tropical cyclone of the 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. It became the strongest tropical cyclone to affect Agaléga since Cyclone Andry in 1983, and the most powerful storm to strike Mayotte in at least 90 years. It is also the costliest tropical cyclone on record in the South-West Indian Ocean basin, surpassing Cyclone Idai of 2019.

Chido originated from an elongated circulation that the Météo-France office in Réunion (RSMC La Réunion) began monitoring on 7 December, located east of Diego Garcia. In the post-storm analysis, it was indicated that the storm had already begun forming as a zone of disturbed weather on 5 December. On 11 December, Chido rapidly deepened and intensified into an intense tropical cyclone within twelve hours, with its eye passing over Agaléga. Early the next day, the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) upgraded the system to a Category 4-equivalent tropical cyclone, with estimated 1-minute maximum sustained winds of 250 km/h (155 mph), while the MFR estimated its peak intensity with a minimum central pressure of 935 hPa (27.61 inHg) and 10-minute maximum sustained winds of 215 km/h (130 mph) as it maintained its small size and moved westwards. As the system passed off the northern tip of Madagascar, the eye briefly cleared and the central dense overcast remained compact and symmetrical. Chido entered the Mozambique Channel on 14 December, with microwave imagery showing highly developed organized bands of deep convection. Satellite imagery showed cooling cloud tops surrounding a clearing eye, indicating the strengthening of the storm, and on 15 December, Chido made landfall in Pemba, Mozambique, with 10-minute sustained winds estimated at 205 km/h (125 mph). Shortly after landfall, the MFR reported that Chido moved through Mozambique and Malawi, with convective activity gradually weakening. On 16 December, Chido degenerated into an overland depression, and the MFR issued its final advisory on the system.

The deaths of at least 172 people are attributed to Chido; 120 in Mozambique, 39 in Mayotte and 13 in Malawi, along with over 6,534 injuries. Agaléga was significantly affected by Chido, with over 95% of the territory's buildings destroyed, though hundreds deaths had occurred. Little was done to prepare for the storm in Mayotte, which experienced catastrophic damage and a heavily debated number of deaths and missing from Chido. Numerous residents were unaccounted for, with most shanty towns completely destroyed and 85% of the island being left without power by 16 December. In Mozambique, over 155,500 homes were badly affected and entire communities were destroyed. Relatively minor damage also occurred in the Comoros and Madagascar. Economic losses from Chido reached $3.9 billion, making it the costliest tropical cyclone in the South-West Indian Ocean basin.^[1]