Death toll in Afghanistan floods climbs to 123: officials
Pastor Dale Morgan
Death toll in Afghanistan floods climbs to 123: officials*
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Nov 20 (AFP) Nov 20, 2006
Heavy floods killed at least 40 more people and destroyed hundreds of
mudbrick houses and crops in southern Afghanistan raising the total
death toll to 123, officials said Monday.
Fresh floods caused by torrential rain in south central Uruzgan province
late Sunday killed at least 40 people and hurt 20 others, provincial
spokesman Abdul Qayom Qayomi told AFP.
Qayomi called for immediate help from the government, UN and non-
governmental organizations, saying there were still isolated villages
that could not be accessed.
In western Farah province's Purchaman district, 17 people were killed in
flooding on Sunday, provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqeb said.
There was no further information available about the Farah floods as
roads to the villages on a mountainside were blocked due to heavy rains,
he said.
The death toll from floods on Thursday in neighbouring Badghis province
rose to 66 on Monday after local rescue teams found four more bodies,
health ministry official Ahmad Shah Shokohmand said.
Around 100 people were still missing from remote Badghis, said
Habibullah Murghabi, the head of a government-appointed relief committee.
Afghan authorities helped by the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) and some aid organizations have been trying to
reach the disaster-stricken area by air and ground to deliver aid,
officials said.