KABUL - Severe floods across much of Afghanistan have killed at least 88 people and left thousands homeless as houses were swept away by the raging waters, officials said Saturday.
The floods triggered by heavy rain hit the south-central province of Uruzgan, Farah and Ghor provinces in the west and Jawzjan in the north on Friday.
At least 88 people, most of them children, have been confirmed dead but more are feared dead in remote districts which have been cut off by the floods, officials said.
The interior ministry said 85 died in the provincial capital of Farah city, 680 kilometers (425 miles) west of Kabul, and a woman and two children were killed in neighbouring Ghor province.
"At least 21 elders and 64 children were drowned due to floods in Farah city on Friday," ministry press officer Dad Mohammed Rasa told AFP.
In Uruzgan scores of houses were destroyed in the capital Tarin Kot, in Khas Uruzgan district and in Chori district, said ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal.
"Around 600 houses have been destroyed in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province. They are in severe need of food and tents," Mashal said.
US-led forces stationed in Uruzgan to battle the Taliban used a helicopter to evacuate around 200 people stranded in an island in the middle of a river, said US military spokesman Major Steve Wollman.
"It is almost impossible to send aid overland. Hundreds of people have been airlifted to safer locations," Mashal said.
In Ghor province some 266 families have been displaced due to floods, officials said.
"Some 63 families have been displaced in Chaghcharan, 40 in Charchana district, 100 families in Kanda district and 63 in Shahrak district of Ghor province," Rasa said.
In Jawzjan 100 families -- around 600 people --have been displaced in Khawaja Du Koh district and over 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) of farmland has been washed away, he added.
Afghanistan suffered its worst winter for a decade after seven years of drought. Current heavy rains coupled with the melting of thick snow are washing away houses in the war-torn country, which has little infrastructure to cope with rising waters.
At least 580 people have died from disease, avalanches and road accidents during the bitter winter months and many more were feared dead in remote parts of the country.
Health officials say they expected floods following the bitter winter and have already stocked enough medicine for three months in the provinces.
"As the state of emergency was announced a couple of months ago, we expected floods, which is why we decided to send enough medicine to all provinces for cases of emergency," said health ministry advisor Dr. Abdullah Fahim.
03/19/2005 10:03 GMT