Nearly three weeks after the embankments of the River Kosi were first breached, there are still tens of thousands of people stranded in floodwaters in the Indian state of Bihar.
As we travelled through the state, people were coming up to us begging us to help and saying they had received no food aid or any relief whatsoever from the government.
Large swathes of the disaster zone are still submerged, with roads, bridges and train lines covered with water that is cutting off whole communities.
And one of the senior officials in charge of the disaster has warned the operation has entered a crucial stage.
Prataya Amrit has said he expects to complete the rescue of marooned people during the next two days.
But they are from some of the worst affected areas, so it is likely to be a laborious and dangerous operation, he added.
The reason why the rescue operation is coming short is because of acute shortages of boats in the region. Unusually, the affected area is not an annual flood-prone area.
Secondly, because of the heavy rains in northern parts of the area. It's virtually impossible... to even get to some of these villages.
Christian aid agency Tearfund's Prince David in India
Some of the water has receded but there are still six critical areas in the districts of Sepaul and Madhepura - the scene of rioting and looting during the distribution of food aid on Tuesday.
Now there is the added problem of disease taking hold.
The weather is sweltering, there is a lot of stagnant water which people are being forced to wade through to get to dry land and nearly a quarter of a million people have taken shelter in makeshift and crowded camps which offer little hygiene.
Locals are already claiming as many as 10 people have died of cholera in one area, although this has not been confirmed officially.
The floods started on August 18 when the River Kosi breached a dam in Nepal.
The river then changed course and the water swollen with monsoon rains coursed down southern Nepal and into central Bihar in India.
More than 700 villages were flooded. The waters have hit 15 districts, six of them critically.
About three million people are believed to have been affected and although official figures put the number of dead at around 90, aid agencies believe the real figure is much, much higher.
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