Flooding Reported in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 23, 2002; 2:17 PM
KABUL, Afghanistan –– Flooding cut a main road in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, stranding 250 families returning from refugee camps in Iran, the U.N. refugee agency said.
Local authorities reported five people were missing and feared dead, and said 270 houses were destroyed by flash floods, according to Yusuf Hassan, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Hassan said he could not confirm those reports.
But he said 250 families were stranded at a UNHCR transit camp at Qala-i-Nau, a provincial capital 340 miles west of Kabul, the Afghan capital, where the destruction was reported.
The UNHCR was sending blankets and plastic sheets to the area from nearby Herat, but was unable to reach Qala-i-Nau because of the flooding, Hassan said. |
