A South African air force rescue team saved a Mozambican baby from certain death yesterday, just an hour after she was born in a tree where her mother was perched over floodwaters.
Ms Sophia Pedro (22) and her baby daughter, Rositha, were among the few lucky ones.
Many thousands of Mozambicans were waiting to be lifted to safety from branches and rooftops, marooned for days by rising water that has swallowed towns and villages.
Rositha was rescued as her mother was clinging with about a dozen women, men and children to a tree in Mondiane village, 10 km outside the town of Chibuto.
A South African paramedic, Cpl Godfrey Nengovhela, said he chopped off the umbilical cord while the mother was still perched on the tree branches.
"I was overjoyed when I saw the helicopter coming," said Ms Pedro, visibly still in pain but happily cuddling her daughter, who was wrapped in dirty and blood-soiled linen.
President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique said yesterday the number of people affected by the waters from the rising Limpopo, Save and Incomati rivers had reached the million mark.
He said the flood victims were in desperate need of aid, and that many of the survivors were still clinging on for their lives above the swirling floodwaters.
Most figures are still giving the number of dead at 200, but experts say the actual toll would only be known after the waters had subsided, as more bodies would be exposed then.
In Dublin, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, announced an additional allocation of £1 million for emergency assistance from Ireland to Mozambique.
"Right now, the priority is saving lives and emergency and recovery operations", she said.
"Ireland Aid is playing a major role in response to the emergency."
The Minister said the money would be spent on supporting displaced people, on rebuilding infrastructure, and re-establishing health and education services.
Ms O'Donnell also indicated that Ireland Aid was ready to provide further funding for rescue operations operated by the South African defence forces.
Ireland's largest relief and development agency, Concern, announced it had received over £30,000 in public donations in the last four days for its relief operations in Mozambique.
It said it had allocated £500,000 to the emergency and had doubled its staff in Mozambique, with a plan to send an extra five workers to aid the extended relief operation.