In Malawi, more than 400 people have died in the flooding caused by Cyclone Freddy. International aid has started to arrive and rescue teams are still looking for those stranded by the flood waters.

There are hundreds of evacuation centres set up across the country for survivors with tens of thousands in Malawi left homeless and approximately 345,000 people affected by the heavy rains, floods and landslides. “It’s been very painful waiting for a boat to get to the mainland because here there is no food… we are very hungry,” Isaac Welford, a flood victim in the Nsanje district, which has been cut off for days, told Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Nsanje, said heavy rain and winds caused intense flooding, cutting its people off from food, water, electricity and health facilities. Farmland and crops have been devastated, she added.

The cyclone left a trail of devastation in southeast Africa. Neighbouring Mozambique and the island nation of Madagascar have also been affected.

In Mozambique, at least 67 people died, according to President Filipe Nyusi, with 50,000 more displaced.

It is expected that the death toll in both nations will continue to climb. At least 17 people were killed in the island nation of Madagascar.

Cyclone Freddy has ravaged southern Africa since late February when it pummeled Mozambique, Madagascar and Réunion. It then looped back on to the mainland after regaining strength over the Mozambique Channel.