In a clip published Thursday by online news outlet Brut, Macron angrily told an inhabitant of Mayotte, an island in the Indian Ocean, that the territory would be “10,000 times” worse off without the French state — comments that were swiftly slammed as neocolonialist.

French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Mayotte on Thursday, his office said, as officials warned the death toll from the most destructive cyclone in living memory could reach hundreds, possibly thousands.

Locals and experts say France has not done enough to protect residents of its Mayotte from extreme weather, like the cyclone Chido