The helpers in the disaster area in East Africa are running out of time. "We are at a critical juncture," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in the particularly affected city of Beira.

It is still raining, the rising rivers could submerge more places. Also, more and more refugees arrived in Beira. The United Nations Relief and Emergency Agency in Geneva now has at least 1.7 million people affected in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The helpers are already arming themselves for the next big danger: diseases. There are cases of malaria among people who are still trapped by the floods, according to a statement by the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. In Beira there are also reports of the first cholera diseases. If the disease is not treated, cholera can be fatal within a short time.

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Floods: desperate call for help

After such a disaster, the risk of diarrheal diseases such as cholera is extremely high, because there is hardly any clean drinking water, no functioning sewage system, corpses decompose in the congested waters.

Cyclone "Idai" hit land on the night of last Friday at wind speeds of up to 190 kilometers per hour from the Indian Ocean near Beira. This was followed by storm surges, massive floods and heavy rainfall. The floods are so strong that there is talk of an "ocean inland". Houses are destroyed, streets are flooded, the power supply has partially collapsed. There is a lack of clean drinking water, food and medicines. (Read more about the location on site here.)

Many people could only save themselves on rooftops and trees because of the rapidly rising water masses and had to wait there for days for help. According to government figures, this might be around 15,000 people in Mozambique alone. Helicopters were deployed to locate survivors from the air. Schools, hotels and churches were used as emergency shelters.

Video: "Children were separated from their parents"

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A spokesman for the UN World Food Program said the organization was partially overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and the onslaught of the hungry. It will take months to normalize the situation. Mozambique's Environment Minister Celso Correia said that from Friday on, supply needs in the disaster areas will be identified by drones. For Saturday, he expected the completion of first reception for the needy.

Meanwhile, the death toll has continued to rise. The civil protection authority in Mozambique spoke of 293 dead and 1511 injured. So far, almost 90,000 people have been rescued. In Zimbabwe, more than 145 bodies have now been recovered in the severely affected district of Chimanimani, an Armed Forces spokesman, Exavier Chibasa, said. However, in both countries it is expected that the number of victims will increase significantly. Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared mourning this coming Saturday and Sunday.