Desperate search for survivors resumed at first light in Sierra Leone’s capital on Tuesday, after mudslides and floods claimed the lives of more than 300 people.
Their homes in Freetown were engulfed after part of Sugar Loaf mountain collapsed following heavy rain early on Monday morning.
Many of the victims were still asleep in their beds when disaster struck.
Vice-President Victor Foh has warned the final death toll may be far higher.
Another 3,000 people are estimated to have lost their homes.
Ishmeal Charles, a charity worker for the Healey Relief Foundation and Caritas Freetown, told the BBC words could not do justice to the scale of the tragedy.
“Of course you will see a huge number of people crying with those who have lost their family members,” he said.
“It’s very difficult to paint what the reality looks like because it’s more scary and very sad and disastrous than anyone can be able to describe.”
In the worst hit area, the Regent district, where dozens of houses were submerged when the hillside collapsed at about 06:00 GMT, those who survived spoke of the family members they had lost – or still hoped to find alive.
Mohamed Sinneh, a morgue technician at Freetown’s Connaught Hospital, told news agency AFP he had counted more than 300 bodies on Monday – and said more had been taken to private morgues.
Red Cross spokesman Patrick Massaquoi told the news agency that 312 people were confirmed dead and warned the toll could rise further.
In a televised address, President Ernest Bai Koroma urged people to stay away from the affected areas.
“This tragedy of great magnitude has once again challenged us to come together, to stand by each other and to help one another,” he said.
“Let me assure you that my government is fully engaged on this situation and in collaboration with our development partners we have already established an emergency response centre at Regent to coordinate our response and to provide relief to the survivors.”
Flooding is not unusual in Sierra Leone, where unsafe housing in makeshift settlements can be swept away by heavy rains.
The rains often hit areas in and around Freetown, an overcrowded coastal city of more than one million people.
In 2015, Freetown endured deadly floods sparked by monsoon rains that killed 10 people and left thousands more homeless.
