The South African army announced on Monday that it will deploy 10,000 soldiers after the catastrophic floods that caused 443 deaths and left tens of thousands of people homeless, wreaking destruction on the country’s eastern coast.

The country was hit for a week by heavy rains that caused rivers to flood and land to slide. Most of the victims are concentrated around Durban, a port city of 3.5 million people in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, which overlooks the Indian Ocean.

There are still 63 people missing after the catastrophe.

“The South African Army has been ordered to activate 10,000 troops as part of Operation Chariot,” it said in a statement.

The soldiers are going to intervene in the search and rescue of the victims, in the cleaning operations and the transport of equipment and humanitarian aid.

According to the balance of the authorities, more than 4,000 houses were destroyed and 13,500 were damaged.

Numerous hospitals and more than 550 schools were also affected and there are areas that were blocked by the closure of roads and the collapse of bridges.

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