Floods in eastern Afghanistan triggered by unseasonal downpours have left at least 56 people dead with about 100 plucked to safety overnight with the help of Nato helicopters, officials said on Thursday.
About 30 people were estimated to have been killed since Wednesday in Panjshir province, about 100km north-east of Kabul, an official in the Department of Disaster Preparedness said.
Seven more were killed in Kabul province, where several houses were destroyed. Other deaths were recorded in the provinces of Kapisa, Kunar, Paktia and Parwan, Ajmal Karimi said.
”These are estimates. Assessment teams have gone to the area to assess the damages,” he said.
In many provinces there was also damage to homes, agricultural land, roads, wells and livestock, he said.
The summer downpours were unusual with Afghanistan’s rainy season normally limited to spring. ”We can’t remember such rain in this season,” Karimi said.
Scores of people were killed earlier this year in spring-time flooding caused by heavy rains and the melting of winter snows that also led to several avalanches.
The Interior Ministry said, meanwhile, that police and soldiers from the Nato-led international security assistance force had rescued about 100 people stranded by floods overnight in Kapisa and
Parwan provinces, near the capital.
The force said two helicopters helped by airlifting people to safety. — Sapa-AFP