Flooding in Afghanistan kills 80 people and leaves thousands homeless

The Guardian (UK) via AP:  Flooding in a remote part of northern Afghanistan has killed more than 80 people and forced thousands to flee their homes, officials have said. It was the latest in a string of deadly flash floods, landslides and avalanches in Afghanistan's rugged northern mountains, where roads are poor and many villages are virtually cut off from the rest of the country.

Lt Fazel Rahman, police chief in the Guzirga i-Nur district of Baghlan province, said on Sunday that the death toll had climbed from 54 to 81 and that police and villagers were still searching for missing people after flooding hit several villages on Friday.

Rahman said 850 houses were completely destroyed and more than 1,000 were damaged by the heavy rain and flooding, leaving thousands of people in need of shelter, food, water and medicine. He said the death toll could climb to 100 and called for emergency assistance from the central government.

...General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, said two army helicopters had been sent to the area to provide assistance. The Afghanistan natural disaster management authority began shipping out stockpiles of food and other supplies in Baghlan province to the affected area, said Mohammad Aslim Sayas, deputy director of the agency. He said a delegation was sent to the affected villages to assess their needs....

Afghan workers remove loads of sludge from the river below the Kuk Chenar (Dutch) Bridge in Baghlan Province. Shot by isafmedia, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr,  under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license