More than 50 people have been killed in heavy rains and floods in eastern Africa

Heavy rains and floods have killed more than 50 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes across East Africa, while researchers warn that warming ocean waters are causing dangerous weather patterns in the region.

South Sudan declared a nationwide emergency last week after 420,000 people were displaced by floods, the United Nations said.

Staff from the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are struggling to prevent outbreaks of disease in the town of Pibor, about 340 km east of the capital Juba, near the border with Ethiopia, after floodwaters destroyed homes and killed livestock.

"We are currently living with dead animals, trash and garbage buried under this water," said one resident, Veronica Komor, 42.

A mother named Polo Choa, 36, appealed for help. “This is a very difficult situation for a disabled person like me. Everyone tries to save himself first. The water is getting deeper every day and I can't swim. ”

The natural disaster is exacerbating an already desperate situation in southern Sudan, which is trying to recover from a civil war that has killed some 400,000 people and forced nearly a third of the population to flee their homes.

In Somalia, floods from rivers flooded residential areas, displaced some 370,000 people and destroyed farms. The United Nations said at least 17 people had died there from the floods.

In neighboring Ethiopia, floods have displaced more than 200,000 people. In Kenya, flood waters have killed 48 people and forced at least 17,000 people to flee their homes.