At least 24 killed, hundreds made homeless as floods hit Afghanistan

At least 24 killed, hundreds made homeless as floods hit Afghanistan

19.03.2005 At least 24 people died and hundreds more were left homeless Saturday after heavy rain pushed Afghanistan's longest river over its banks in a former Taliban stronghold and caused severe flooding across the country.

Officials in western Farah province reported that at least 21 people died because of the floods, and three more perished in neighboring Ghor, Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal told The Associated Press.

"Many families have been forced from their homes into makeshift camps," Mashal said. "We fear the death toll could rise."

On Friday the Helmand River crested its banks and flooded several villages near Deh Rawood, 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Kabul, in central Uruzgan province, Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan told AP.

Some 700 houses were destroyed, Khan said by satellite telephone from Deh Rawood, where he was supervising rescue operations. He said dozens of people, including 12 Kuchi nomads who take their livestock up the Helmand valley each spring, were missing.

The U.S. military said it rescued more than 200 people from rising flood waters in the area on Friday. Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters lifted the villagers from an island surrounded by rising floodwaters and ferried them to safety, the military said in a statement.

Authorities are braced for serious flooding as rainstorms and warmer weather melt deep snow from one of the harshest winters in years.

The weather is good news for Afghan farmers impoverished by years of drought. However, more than 300 people have reportedly died from exposure and cold-related illnesses such as pneumonia and whooping cough this year.

It was unclear whether the wet weather also caused a landslide that an official said killed five men prospecting for gemstones in northern Afghanistan.

The five died on Thursday as they were searching for blue lapis lazuli gems near Keranomunjan, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of Kabul, said Shamsul Rahman Shams, deputy governor of Badakhshan province.

Large tracts of farmland were also reportedly damaged in the Shamali Plain, just north of Kabul, and in the northern province of Jowzjan.

<< | >>

Search for Jobs in:
Afghanistan Kabul Mumbai Dehli Karachi Islamabad Abu dhabi Dehli Singapur London New York Los Angeles Canada

Joint Inquiry on Deaths of Afghans Is Proposed
Afghanistan faces humanitarian crisis: Oxfam
Jubilant Afghans welcome nation's first ever Olympic medallist
Pakistan troops 'kill 23 Taleban'
U.S. leaders, Pakistanis meet secretly
U.S. officials: Afghan deaths overstated
Source: U.S., Pakistan officers meet secretly
Report: 100 militants killed in Afghanistan