Reuters reports that torrential rains coupled with melting snow have killed more than 200 people and destroyed thousands of houses in several parts of Afghanistan.
The worst hit areas are Deh Rawud district in the rugged central Uruzgan province and the western provinces of Farah and Herat:
"The deaths of 115 have been confirmed ... while thousands of homes have been destroyed," Uruzgan's governor Jan Mohammad Khan said, adding that many more people were missing.U.S. military Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters rescued around 250 people in the Deh Rawud District, 70 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of the U.S. base at Kandahar, after the Helmand river burst its banks.
In Farah 68 people died as a result of floods, its governor, Assadullah Falah, said.
[. . .]
"We have reports of total destruction of 7,800 houses in Farah," Falah said, adding that large numbers of livestock had been killed.
Some 2,500 houses had collapsed in Herat province. Most houses in Afghanistan are built from mud and are highly vulnerable to flooding.
The good news is that Afghanistan's six year drought may be over.
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