AFGHANISTAN: Lethal floods, Torrential Rains strike the east
Pastor Dale Morgan
*AFGHANISTAN: Lethal floods, Torrential Rains strike the east*
10 Nov 2006 13:26:31 GMT
Source: IRIN
KABUL, 10 November (IRIN) - At least four people have been killed and
five others are missing after flash floods, triggered by torrential
rains, hit the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, the United Nations
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Friday.
"Early this morning in the Behsoud district of Nangarhar province,
severe flooding occurred and we can confirm that four people were killed
as a result and five are currently missing, many others have been
injured," Dan McNorton, a public information officer with UNAMA, told
IRIN in Kabul.
"Our initial reports indicate that over 1,000 houses have been destroyed
either partially or totally," McNorton asserted.
Meanwhile, local authorities in Nangarhar province have called for
further urgent assistance to thousands of flood-affected people.
"Hundreds of families have been badly affected and are in urgent need of
tents, blankets and food,"Ajmal Pardis, head of health department of
Nangarhar province, told IRIN, from Jalalabad, the provincial capital.
Pardis said women and children were also among the dead and their
medical teams have treated some 30 injured people in the flood-affected
area.
East and southeastern Afghanistan has seen several episodes of flooding
this year.
Flash floods on 30 July killed 13 people in the Shirzad district of
Nangrahar province and washed away more than 1,000 hectares of farmlands
and destroyed dozens of houses, according to officials.
On 10 August, local authorities confirmed that floods had killed 33 and
left thousands of people homeless in the southeastern provinces of
Paktika, Ghazni and Paktia.
Floods killed at least seven people and forced 500 families to leave
their villages and homes in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan in July.
The impoverished country, which has suffered severe environmental
degradation, including deforestation and consecutive years of drought,
is particularly vulnerable to floods and other natural disasters,
experts say.
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