Kabul: Flash floods in Afghanistan have
killed at least 65 people and affected more than 1,000
families, the national disaster authority chief told a news agency on Saturday.
Rescue teams in the northeast of the country are still
struggling to reach areas cut off by flooded roads and the
threat of insurgent attacks, said Abdul Matin Edrok, head of
the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority.
"Initial information sent by our provincal offices
shows that nearly 70 people have been killed and tens injured.
We estimate more than 1,000 families have been affected but
these figures may rise," he said.
Most of those affected were in northeast Kapisa
province, where 31 people died, he said. Others were killed in
the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Logar,
central Ghazni province and northern Parwan.
Edrok said food and medical aid was being distributed
using some Afghan and NATO coalition helicopters, and that the
rains causing the floods had now ended.
In neighbouring Pakistan, at least 408 people have
been killed and 600,000 people affected by the worst floods in
living memory, as monsoon rains triggered flash floods and
landslides.
Military operations are under way to help those living
across the Afghan border in the impoverished remote mountain
belt.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, July 31, 2010, 19:01