GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: Most of the heavy rain has tapered in flood-ravaged southern Africa, but light showers are still falling. The Limpopo (ph) River overflowed its banks in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. As Cindy Strand reports, relief agencies are racing against the rising water.</s>CINDY STRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More rain lashing an already soaked country, and more is rushing down the Limpopo River, heading for Mozambique. (on camera): The water that's come down from places like Zimbabwe are flowing into Mozambique so quickly it's being described as just a moving wall that's incredibly forceful. (voice-over): Aid workers say they are in a race against water. This road had a become a runway for aid flights, and though slow and expensive, helicopters are the only way to reach some areas. For the children here at the Magude staging area, the helicopters have become part of a game. (on camera): But for at least 100,000 Mozambiquans trapped, still held hostage by the floods, this food is their only chance for survival. (voice-over): Where they can, the government is vaccinating against meningitis, because just one illness could turn into an epidemic. "It would be a catastrophe," says this health worker, "with so many displaced people crowded together. It would be more misery for the people." The displaced tried to keep fires alive under wet logs. Many of these people had little to begin with. Now they have nothing. Roads have become waterways, streets have crumbled, the rail line has been cut. Many here say these floods have been more crippling than Mozambique's 16-year civil war, but say they will rebuild again.</s>DR. LEONARD SIMAO, GOVERNMENT MINISTER: Once the war started, immediately we started the whole process of rebuilding the country. So I believe that the same strength we had in past the to build it from the scratches, the country, is there, and we are going to use it in future.</s>STRAND: Cindy Strand, CNN, Maputo.
Relief Agencies Racing Against Rising Waters in Southern Africa