Baku, May 18, AZERTAC
At least 50 people have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed following a new bout of heavy rains and flooding in central Afghanistan, Al Jazeera reports citing the authorities.
Flash floods caused by torrential seasonal rains have, for weeks, devastated a wide swath of territory across Afghanistan, killing hundreds of people, leaving thousands injured and destroying homes and communities.
At least 50 people were confirmed dead in the province of Ghor, police spokesman Abdul Rahman Badri said on Saturday, adding that he expected the number of casualties to rise.
“These terrible floods have also killed thousands of cattle … They have destroyed hundreds of hectares of agricultural land, hundreds of bridges and culverts, and destroyed thousands of trees,” he said.
According to preliminary reports, dozens of people were missing, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for Ghor’s provincial governor.
Mawlawi Abdul Hai Zaeem, head of the information department for Ghor, said the latest wet spell began on Friday, cutting off many key roads to the area.
He said that 2,000 houses were completely destroyed, 4,000 partially damaged and more than 2,000 shops were under water in the province’s capital, Firoz Koh.