Floods wreak havoc in Ghazni, Logar

GHAZNI CITY/PUL-I-ALAM (PAN): Massive flooding unleashed by heavy rains left at least five people dead, 60 homes destroyed and thousands of acres of farmland inundated in southern Ghazni and central Logar provinces, officials said on Thursday.

In Ghazni, the disaster hit Andar and Qarah Bagh districts, destroying 60 homes, highways, irrigation canals and Karez water systems, according to Andar district chief, Mohammad Qasim Desiwal.

A 5-kilometre portion of a canal was damaged by the floods that destroyed several orchards and homes. A key canal project in the Sardi Band area was also damaged by the floods, he said.

A resident of the Andar town, Rahmatullah, said his 800 grape plants which carried about 10 tonnes of grapes were destroyed.

Similarly, the Qarah Bagh district chief, Fazl Rahman Nazarwal, said dozens of homes, eight Karez systems and up to 5,000 acres of farm land were affected by floodwaters in the district.

The Afghanistan Natural Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA) chief for Ghazni, Hafizullah Gulistani, said the damage caused by floods was yet to be assessed.  He promised assistance with the affected families within the available resources.

Five people lost their lives to the flooding that hit Pul-i-Alam, the capital of Logar, Kharwar, Barak-i-Barak, Mohammad Agha and Sarkh districts.

The governor’s spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwish, told Pajhwok Afghan News the dead included three children, all from the same family. They were killed in the Kharwar district.

ANDMA chief for Logar Ajmal Stanikzai said 30 houses in Mohammad Agha and 18 in Barak-i-Barak had been destroyed by the foods.

He said nearly 2,500 acres of farm land, containing orchards, onion and potato fields, were swept away. About 200 orchards were destroyed in Pul-i-Alam and Sarkh district, he added.

He said the authority lacked resources to compensate the affected families who lost belongings worth millions of afghanis to the floods.

ma