Fears are rising that the death toll from Cyclone Idai could soar when bodies are revealed as flood waters begin to recede in parts of Mozambique on Friday,

The number of deaths could climb beyond the 1,000 predicted by the country's president earlier this week, said Elhadj As Sy, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

In addition to worries about the number of dead, Mr As Sy told the Associated Press that the humanitarian needs are great.

"They are nowhere near the scale and magnitude of the problem," Mr As Sy said. "And I fear we will be seeing more in the weeks and months ahead, and we should brace ourselves."

Thousands of people were making a grim voyage towards the city of Beira, which although 90 per cent destroyed has become a centre for frantic rescue efforts throughout the region.

Cyclone Idai Show all 11 1 /11 Cyclone Idai Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-2eb64421bc0e4e6ba11299605d38a558-0.jpg People go on their morning errands amid the shattered city of Beira, Friday, March 22 2019. Some hundreds of people are dead, many more still missing and with many thousands at risk from massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai. (AP Photo/Cara Anna) Cara Anna (AP Photo/Cara Anna) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-770d7832e45f440eba41e5c9995c02fe-0.jpg A woman carries salvaged metal sheeting amid the shattered city of Beira, Mozambique, Friday March 22 2019. Some hundreds of people are dead, many more still missing and with many thousands at risk from massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai.(AP Photo/Cara Anna) Cara Anna (AP Photo/Cara Anna) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-1b19f61d6c51490ca832d8e734f062d0-0.jpg A UN humanitarian helicopter prepares for a day of work, at the airport in the Mozambique city of Beira, Friday March 22 2019. Some hundreds of people are dead, many more still missing and with many thousands at risk from massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai. (AP Photo/Cara Anna) Cara Anna (AP Photo/Cara Anna) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-37be953c801c4e739671237ee2d03b55.jpg A woman carrying her child walks alongside a collapsed bridge in Nhamatanda, about 100km west of Beira, Thursday, March 21, 2019. Hundreds are dead, many more missing and thousands at risk from massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai. A week after Cyclone Idai lashed southern Africa, flooding still raged Thursday as torrential rains caused a dam to overflow in Zimbabwe, threatening riverside populations. The confirmed death toll in Zimbabwe, neighboring Mozambique and Malawi surpassed 500, with hundreds more feared dead in towns and villages that were completely submerged. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-6fbd78b1c11c49319697b455cbd52c5b.jpg Pedestrians walk on the edge of a collapsed bridge in Nhamatanda, about 100km west of Beira, Thursday, March 21, 2019. Some hundreds are dead, many more still missing and thousands at risk from massive flooding across the region including Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Themba Hadebe A woman carrying her child walks alongside a collapsed bridge in Nhamatanda, about 100km west of Beira, Thursday, March 21, 2019 Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-094ce7a0e1604db3a128f03de6c09520.jpg In this image made from video taken on March 21, 2019, storm evacuees board an Australian Defence Force C-130 plane preparing to take off from Borroloola, Australia. Two powerful cyclones are spinning toward Australia's sparsely populated north where around 2,000 people have been evacuated from the east coast of the Northern Territory ahead of strong winds, mountainous waves and flooding rain. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-ab8b0595a6534966833e66938f673d9e.jpg In this image made from video taken on March 21, 2019, storm evacuees board an Australian Defence Force C-130 plane preparing to take off from Borroloola, Australia. Two powerful cyclones are spinning toward Australia's sparsely populated north where around 2,000 people have been evacuated from the east coast of the Northern Territory ahead of strong winds, mountainous waves and flooding rain. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-b14bf74be72645a9966056a75c9cdaea.jpg In this image made from video taken on March 21, 2019, storm evacuees board an Australian Defence Force C-130 plane preparing to take off from Borroloola, Australia. Two powerful cyclones are spinning toward Australia's sparsely populated north where around 2,000 people have been evacuated from the east coast of the Northern Territory ahead of strong winds, mountainous waves and flooding rain. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-fe4a87a55392492ab8218a55c8af9cb3.jpg In this image made from video taken on March 21, 2019, storm evacuees board an Australian Defence Force C-130 plane preparing to take off from Borroloola, Australia. Two powerful cyclones are spinning toward Australia's sparsely populated north where around 2,000 people have been evacuated from the east coast of the Northern Territory ahead of strong winds, mountainous waves and flooding rain. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-049d78415c2a4e3cb078b734721b1404.jpg This Thursday, March 21, 2019, photo shows the flood soaked land on approach to the Beira Airport, Mozambique. Hundreds are dead, many more missing and thousands at risk from massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai. (AP Photo/Cara Anna) Cyclone Idai urn-publicid-ap.org-ea7a95d63cfd4235b1ec119b920124ed.jpg In this image made from video taken on March 21, 2019, storm evacuees board an Australian Defence Force C-130 plane preparing to take off from Borroloola, Australia. Two powerful cyclones are spinning toward Australia's sparsely populated north where around 2,000 people have been evacuated from the east coast of the Northern Territory ahead of strong winds, mountainous waves and flooding rain. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP) (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP)

Some walked along roads carved away by the raging waters a week ago. Others, hundreds of them, were ferried in an extraordinary makeshift effort by local fishermen who plucked stranded people from small islands.

Helicopters set off into the rain for another day of efforts to find people clinging to rooftops and trees.

For those who reach Beira with their few remaining possessions, life is grim. Waterborne diseases are a growing concern as water and sanitation systems were largely destroyed.

"The situation is simply horrendous, there is no other way to describe it," Mr As Sy said after touring transit camps for the growing number of displaced. "Three thousand people who are living in a school that has 15 classrooms and six, only six, toilets. You can imagine how much we are sitting on a water and sanitation ticking bomb."

Aerial view showing aftermath of cyclone Idai's course through Mozambican city of Beira

What moved him the most was the number of children without their parents, separated in the chaos or newly orphaned.

"Yesterday [we] did a reconnaissance and we found another [inland] lake. So we are still very early in the phase of identifying what the scope of this is, for who is affected and how many are lost," Emma Batey, coordinator for the consortium of Oxfam, CARE and Save the Children, told the AP.

Luckily, the area is a national park and less densely populated, she said. Still, "there were devastatingly small amounts of people".

She estimated that another 100 people would be airlifted out on Friday: "We're only picking up those in absolute dire need."

No one is still clinging to roofs and trees, she said.

Pedro Matos, emergency coordinator for the World Food Program, said that what rescuers are seeing now is "sometimes it's just a hut completely surrounded by water".

"If islands are big enough, we can even see smoke coming out, meaning that they're cooking," he said, adding that it remains "super difficult" to estimate a death toll or even the number of missing.

For residents of Beira, life staggered on. People salvaged the metal strips of roofs that had been peeled away like the skin of a fruit. Downed trees littered the streets. And yet there were flashes of life as it used to be. White wedding dresses stood pristine behind a shop window that hadn't shattered.

Zimbabwe was also affected by the cyclone and as roads began to clear and some basic communications were set up, a fuller picture of the extent of the damage there is beginning to emerge.

The victims are diverse: a mother buried in the same grave with her child, headmasters missing together with dozens of school students, illegal gold and diamond miners swept away by raging rivers and police officers washed away with their prisoners.

The Ministry of Information said 30 pupils, two headmasters and a teacher are missing.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Thursday that officers and prisoners were washed way.

In Mutare, fear gripped residents even though they are more than 140 kilometres (85 miles) from Chimanimani, the worst-hit part of Zimbabwe.

Maina Chisiriirwa, a city resident, said she buried her son-in-law, who had left the city to go to Chiadzwa diamond fields to mine illegally.

"There are no jobs and all he wanted was to feed his family. He was with his colleagues. They thought it would be easier to mine since the rains would keep the guards and the police away from patrolling," Ms Chisiriirwa said. His colleagues survived but her son-in-law was swept away, she said.

A man who travelled several kilometres (miles) to a reception centre for survivors in Chimanimani said several of his colleagues were swept away as they tried to cross a river while fleeing from a mountain known for rich gold deposits and frequented by hordes of illegal miners.

Cyclone Idai wreaks havoc across Zimbabwe

In downtown Beira, a sidewalk is Marta Ben's new home. The 30-year-old mother of five clutched a teary child to her hip as she described the sudden horror of the storm.

"I've never seen anything like this," she said, barefoot, a cooking pot bubbling nearby. "We were not warned. Suddenly the roof flew away."

She said she and neighbours in their home near the beach hurried their many children away but "we lost some of them." Hers survived.

Now they claim a patch of sidewalk among others newly homeless. They beg passers-by for aid. They say they have received nothing from the government or aid groups, "not even bread."

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And yet she knows others have suffered more. She described seeing the ragged people who had been ferried by fishermen from communities outside the city. "They looked sad," she said.

The survivors from inland Mozambique arrived by the boatload, some 50 at a time, mostly children, witnesses said.

"Some were wounded. Some were bleeding. Some had feet white like flour for being in the water for so long," said Julia Castigo, who watched them arrive Friday morning.

The 24-year-old said the cyclone came as a surprise to her, her husband and two children. It blew away the roof, the door, the windows. Water filled the home.

She looked resigned. "We survived. We're still here," she said simply.

"The people didn't even have clothes, nothing to cover them," said Ignacio Dango, who watched them arrive on the beach. The 24-year-old boat builder said he saw sick, wounded and very young. "Like five years old."

They came from Buzi, he said.

Residents of Beira muttered "Meu Dio!" ("My God" in Portuguese) as they went about the city and came across new scenes of destruction.