Cyclone Idai’s death toll has risen above 750 in the three southern African countries hit 10 days ago by the storm as workers restore electricity and try to prevent the outbreak of cholera.

In Mozambique, the number of dead has risen to 446, while there are 259 dead in Zimbabwe and at least 56 dead in Malawi for a three-nation total of 761.

All numbers for deaths are still preliminary, Mozambique’s Environment Minister Celso Correia warned.

As floodwaters recede and more bodies are discovered, the final death toll in Mozambique alone could be above the early estimate of 1,000 made by the country’s president a few days after the cyclone hit, aid workers said.

Nearly 110,000 people are now in camps more than a week after Cyclone Idai hit, Mr Correia, the government’s emergency coordinator, said.

Mozambique Cyclone
A young boy sits outside a flooded house in Buzi district (Themba Hadebe/AP)

As efforts to rescue people trapped by the floods wind down, aid workers across the vast region are bracing for the spread of disease.

“We’ll have cholera for sure,” Mr Correia said at a press briefing, saying a centre to respond to the disease has been set up in Beira although no cases been confirmed as yet.

Beira is working to return basic services, he said.

Mr Correia confirmed electricity has been restored to water pumping and treatment stations by the government water agency so Beira and the nearby city of Dondo are getting clean water.

Mozambique Cyclone
A boy walks through a muddy walkway (Themba Hadebe/AP)

He said the port and railway line have reopened, while repairs and bypasses are being built to the main road, EN6, and it should reopen on Monday.

The restored road connection will allow larger deliveries of food, medicines and other essential supplies to be to be brought to Beira and to flooded areas like Nhamatanda, west of the city.

“People are already going,” the environment minister said of the newly accessible road.

Malaria is another looming health problem the minister said was “unavoidable” because large expanses of standing water encourage the spread of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Mozambique Cyclone
A woman walks along a flooded road (Themba Hadebe/AP)

Asked about his country’s current corruption scandal and whether the diversion of money has hurt the rescue efforts, Mr Correia bristled, saying the government’s focus now is on saving lives.

“We are doing everything to fight corruption,” he said.

“It’s systematic, up to the top,” he said of the anti-graft drive.

Two large field hospitals and water purification systems were on the way, joining a wide-ranging effort that includes drones to scout out areas in need across the landscape of central Mozambique, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, deputy director of the UN’s humanitarian operation, said.

The scale of the devastation is “extraordinary” not only because of the cyclone and flooding but because the land had already had been saturated by earlier rains, he said.

A huge number of aid assets are now in Mozambique and Mr Stampa said: “No government in the world can respond alone in these circumstances.”