By Emelia Sithole
BEIRA, Mozambique (Reuters) - South African and aid agency helicopters airlifted some 440 people stranded on grassy knolls in central Mozambique Monday, and witnesses said many more waited to be rescued from rising flood waters.
Women with children tied with blankets to their backs and small bundles of possessions balanced on their heads waded through water to reach the waiting helicopters.
A Reuters cameraman said several dogs wailed as helicopters took off with their owners.
''People seemed prepared to leave. They had gathered around with their things,'' said World Food Program spokeswoman Brenda Barton from Tambara camp, where refugees from Sabete and Nhacolo districts were taken.
At least 52 people have died and more than 77,000 have been made homeless by recent flooding in Mozambique, a year after the worst floods in recent memory killed more than 700.
Villagers told reporters accompanying the rescue teams that there were more people needing rescue in nearby villages.
''All their crops are under water. They are without food,'' said Italian Mossa, who had just been airlifted from a flooded area in Sabete.
Other villagers reported that water levels were rising, flooding their homes and fields.
''It was coming higher today and yesterday. Many people are in the water,'' said Solomon Ernansa.
Several men and teenage boys stayed behind to watch over their homes after seeing women relatives and children to safety.
Barton said the WFP would send two helicopters to the area Tuesday to pick up any others left behind and wanting to be rescued.
She had no definite figures of people still at risk.
''We are battling with the numbers game. It is very hard to understand in terms of numbers,'' Barton said.
Rising River
Barton and reporters who flew in South African helicopters Sunday said villagers reported there were some 618 families on two islands along the flooded Zambezi River appealing to be moved to safer ground.
With the river, which has widened to nearly 12 miles in places, rising only about two inches a day, farmers trying to guard meager possessions have been reluctant to accept warnings of imminent danger.
But those higher up the river, closer to the Cahora Bassa dam which has been forced to spill huge amounts of water, are running into trouble.
''All the villages alongside the Cahora Bassa Lake, those people need to move to higher ground. We have asked local authorities to tell them to move ...'' Mozambican Health Minister Francisco Songane said.
Songane warned the situation could worsen in two days as heavy rains continued to pound neighboring Zambia and Zimbabwe, most of whose rivers and reservoirs flow into Mozambique.
Zambian authorities said Monday that raging floodwaters had killed at least six people and displaced 5,000 others in eastern Zambia's waterlogged Launga Valley.