A RETIRED Bradford businessman is out in Malawi witnessing the devastating floods that have claimed thousands of lives and left many more homeless.

French national Jacques Lapergue, who is helping at a children's rescue centre, said the toll of the floods was horrific and although the waters were now starting to recede in some places, locals are still facing other dangers including hungry crocodiles and disease.

Mr Lapergue, who has flown above the waters in military helicopters assessing the crisis and visiting cut-off communities in the African bush, says more aid is urgently needed.

Tiyamike Mulungu children's centre managed to escape any harm but just 300 yards away the town was less fortunate and has been deep in polluted water. Helicopters picking up and delivering maize and other emergency supplies have turned a strip of land nearby into a landing and take-off pad.

Mr Lapergue, who founded the Antique Glass Studio in Bierley, has been keeping in touch with friends in Bradford and the Telegraph & Argus about the plight thousands of miles from home and hopes people will send offers of help and donations.

In desperation, some flood victims are having to live in termite-made earth mounds, Mr Lapergue said: "So many have died, not all the bodies have been found yet and so many others have lost their homes.

"Those who have survived are still facing other dangers like cholera, a lack of food and the crocodiles. People are terrified, these creatures can break doors.

"We need help. There is a lot to do. People are hungry, thirsty and in danger. Some are having to seek shelter in termite mounds other refugees are living 30 in one tent. The situation is desperate."

Mr Lapergue has not been able to visit a community farm in the south in Mangochi, near Lake Malawi he has helped fund but he knows it has been hit badly.

"I haven't been able to get there but it is bad," he said.

He added that relief workers from the Islamic Foundation supported by well-wishers in Bradford had been handing out aid where they can.

Mr Lapergue is in Africa to carry out his Christian missionary work despite being wrongly jailed for murder in 2008 after finding a corpse lying in an alleyway in Zambia. He had been imprisoned in a filthy and cramped police cell until the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence after intervention from Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe and the French Embassy in Zambia and Malawi.

Anyone wanting to support Tiyamike Mulungu's work should e-mail the registered charity Tiyamike Mulungu Centre UK, at tiyamikeuk@gmail.comor call 07803038245.