Severe floods and avalanches left at least 17 people dead in western Afghanistan, officials said Monday, as Nato choppers evacuated hundreds of villagers from flooded regions in the country's south.
An avalanche on Sunday buried several houses in the town of Chaghcharan, capital of the western province of Ghor, and killed at least 12 people, the deputy provincial governor, Kiramudin Rezazada, told AFP. "Thirteen other people were wounded some houses were destroyed," he said.
In neighbouring Badghis province, floods on Sunday killed five people and thousands of livestock, provincial police chief Mohammad Ayob said. The water washed away 850 houses and flooded hundreds of acres (hectares) of farmland.
In the south of the country, Dutch troops were using four helicopters to lift close to 1,000 people from flooded parts of Uruzgan province to higher ground, Nato's International Security Assistance Force said.
Some villages in the province's Deh Rahwood district were underwater and up to 500 houses were destroyed along a 20-kilometre (12-mile) stretch of the Helmand river, spokesman Colonel Tom Collins told reporters.
"There are reports of people who are on top of their houses and the water is rising around them ... we are going to do everything to evacuate them," he said. About 250 ISAF ground forces were providing emergency relief aid, including medical assistance.
Gunmen believed to be from the Taliban fired a rocket-propelled grenade at troops in the district but caused no casualties, an ISAF spokeswoman said.
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