Heavy rains bring flooding to centre and southwest

Heavy rainfalls over the last few days in the central and southwestern parts of Afghanistan, has led to extensive flooding of agricultural land leading to loss of life and the killing of hundreds of animals, aid bodies said on Thursday. According to the United Nations in Kabul, the most recent flood took place in the southwestern Farah province. Reports from the department of rural rehabilitation and development in the province indicates that at least six people and 200 livestock are reported missing, after a flood in the Purchaman district of Farah on Wednesday. The UN was still trying to determine the extent of flooding. “It is a mountainous area and currently inaccessible by road, therefore, it has hampered the needs assessment,” Martin Battersby a public information officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) told IRIN on Thursday. He said an emergency group was meeting on Saturday to discuss supplying emergency assistance to the affected area in Farah. According to UNAMA, there have been additional reports of flooding over the past four days, particularly from the provinces of Ghor, Wardak, Logar and Kapisa, in central parts of the country. “Initial reports suggest that generally damage seems to have been relatively light, compared to previous flooding throughout Afghanistan earlier in the year,” he sad. People in Farah province said no aid has reached them by Thursday. “We are Kochis [nomads] we were setting in our tents when the flood came, six people including two women and hundreds of animals were drowned by the water, “Gula Jan, a flood affected resident and elder of Purchaman in Farah, told IRIN in Farah. Battersby said teams - made up of both local government and international agencies - have been dispatched to various flood affected areas and would report in the next few days. Meanwhile, reports from Western Ghor province, indicate heavy rain on Monday damaged houses in the villages of Barakhana, Karistan and Jarmatu in Chaghcharan district, and that floods had damaged agricultural land in Taiwara, Tulak, and Shahrak districts, he added. “An initial assessment has been made by the provincial authorities. In addition, the Combined Disaster Management Team [CDMT], a body including local government officials and representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], the World Food Programme [WFP] and UNAMA, is on its way to Chaghcharan,” the UN information officer said. Non-food items for 500 families, which had been pre-positioned earlier in Chaghcharan, will be distributed pending verification, he added. In Parwan province, although there have been no reports of flooding, the water level of the River Ghourband River is high - an early warning of probable flooding. “Precautionary measures are being taken - the provincial government distributed sandbags to high flood risk areas,” he added. Kapisa, Wardak and Logar provinces were reportedly affected by flood damage in several areas. In the village of Kohna Deh in the Kohistan district in Kapisa flooding blocked part of a canal, which provided irrigation for 6,000 Jeribs (30,000 hectares) of agricultural land. In Wardak, flooding in Maidan Shar, Chak and Nurk districts damaged crops and irrigation channels.