KABUL - Floods caused by heavy rains have destroyed hundreds of homes and may have killed up to 48 people in northern Afghanistan in the past few days, a minister said on Friday.
Minister for Rural Development Hanif Atmar said flash floods had hit 21 districts of the provinces of Badakhshan, Takhar, Sar-i-Pul, Faryab, Jozjan, Samangan and Faryab.
He said he had received reports from the provinces that a total of 48 people had been killed and 14 injured, but these still had to be confirmed.
"Badakhshan has been badly affected. Thirty-six of the 48 reported deaths were in Badakhshan alone," Atmar told Reuters.
He said the government planned to carry out an aerial survey of the remote and mountainous province to assess the damage. Emergency food supplies had been sent to affected families, but there was shortage of tents.
In March, more than 200 people died in floods caused by heavy rain and melting snow after one of the worst winters in Afghanistan for decades.
Several hundred people died earlier in the severe winter weather, which followed almost six years of drought.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
