AP PHOTOS: Cyclone Chido's devastation of Mayotte was immediate and decades coming

The devastation from Cyclone Chido that shattered corrugated metal shacks and thousands of lives on the island of Mayotte was both immediate and long coming.

Residents of Mayotte, one of 12 tiny overseas territories remaining from one of the great global empires, have complained for decades of neglect by bureaucrats in France.

Authorities have confirmed 35 deaths from Cyclone Chido’s landfall Sunday, but fear hundreds or thousands may be dead.

The shacks of corrugated metal stood no chance in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of the capital, Mamoudzou, where residents are still taking stock of their shattered lives.

Mayotte, the poorest place in the European Union, has struggled to care for migrants from the nearby independent Comoros islands. They have been moving to Mayotte — the only part of the Comoros that voted to remain part of France in a 1974 referendum — and last year, the government mobilized 2,000 troops and police to carry out mass expulsions, destroy slums and eradicate gangs.

This week, survivors lined up to collect water. Once among the island’s rare riches — with rivers and springs nestled between mountains and forests — water has grown scare as mismanagement and climate change have taken their toll.

Mayotte has had its driest year since 1997, according to the national weather service. Even before Chico, indoor plumbing only worked from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. once every three days on an island territory of about 350,000 people.

Women rested Thursday on a footbridge over a stream filled with debris in the Kaweni slum after families rushed to prepare food, wash dishes, clean their homes and anything else involving water.

Those living in neighborhoods without plumbing lined up at public taps with buckets, plastic jerrycans, reused bottles — anything to collect water. Then for 48 hours, they were dry again.

A girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Dec. 19, 2024, in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

People interact by an outdoor chess board, after finding refuge at the Lycée des Lumières after losing their homes, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

French civil security officers cut trees to open a road for heavy vehicles from Mayotte water authorities to repair water pipes in Mirereni, Mayotte, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A woman looks at empty freezers as she looks for food supplies in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A young girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

French civil security officers make their way through shredded trees heading to Mirereni, Mayotte, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A broken car lays in a field of shredded trees in Mirereni, Mayotte, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

This photo provided by the French Interior Ministry shows French gendarmes unloading supplies in Koungou, in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, Wednesday Dec.18, 2024. (Ministere de l'Interieur/Gendarmerie Nationale via AP)

A man stands on his roof in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A woman carrying her belongings walks past debris after Cyclone Chido in the Kaweni slum Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Volunteers sort through donations for victims of cyclone Chido in Mayotte at the House of Mayotte, in Saint-Denis, Réunion Island, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A family stands in the middle of wreaked houses in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Women wash clothes in a stream in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A child sleeps at the Lycée des Lumières where he found refuge, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Cars are stopped in a traffic jam in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Debris litters a stream in the Kaweni slum in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido.. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant))

Women rest on a footbridge over a stream filled with debris in the Kaweni slum in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

People lineup to collect water Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Damage is seen in the Kaweni slum, on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Dec. 19, 2024, in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A woman looks at a destroyed home in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

PHOENIX (AP) — It's necessary to regulate groundwater in the state’s rural southeast, allowing the designation of a controlled area to stop rapid depletion of the water through agricultural use, the Arizona Department of Water Resources announced Friday.

The department’s Director Tom Buschatzke said data analysis of hydrologic conditions in the state’s Willcox basin shows that the conditions have been met “to take necessary steps to defend our groundwater supplies for future generations.”

Under state law, Buschatzke is empowered as director to designate what is known as an “active management area” for the Willcox Groundwater Basin in Arizona’s Cochise and Graham counties.

“As my staff has made clear in public hearings held in Willcox and in response to comments on our presentations from members of the public, the hydrologic conditions in the basin meet the statutory requirements,” he said in a statement.

The designation was made on Dec. 1, after a public hearing and a vote by area residents, according to a statement by the water agency. During that period, the basin was closed to new agriculture use while the department decided whether to create the management area southeast of Tucson that would allow it to set goals for the well-being of the basin and its aquifers.

Gov. Katie Hobbs and the state water resources agency had been under pressure by local residents to deal with the groundwater depletion.

Hobbs on Friday praised the designation.

“I’ve heard from families, farmers, and businesses who have experienced the devastating impacts of unchecked pumping by unaccountable, big corporations,” said said. “Their wells are running dry, their homes are damaged by fissures in the earth, and their farms are barely able to get by.”

High rates of pumping can dry up wells and cause the ground to collapse, damaging roads and other property. According to a water resources department report, 26 wells in the basin that are regularly measured fell 10 feet (3 meters) to nearly 142 feet (43 meters) between the years 2000 and 2020.

Arizona farm interests have historically opposed groundwater pumping regulations, saying such a structure is too inflexible.

The Willcox Groundwater Basin management area is the first formed by executive action since approval of Arizona’s Groundwater Management Act in 1980. Several other such areas in Arizona were created by similar laws. The urban areas of Phoenix and Tucson have long been under groundwater management.

Water basins at Coronado Dairy in Willcox, Ariz., are seen on Sept. 19, 2021. (Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

Local homeowner Steve Kisiel gives Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs a tour of his property before meeting with a group of Willcox homeowners in Pearce, Ariz., Sept. 5, 2024. (Grace Trejo/Arizona Daily Star via AP)