Afghan avalanches, flooding taking toll across the country

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan officials say that severe conditions and lack of machinery are hampering efforts to reach people trapped, injured or dead after avalanches and flooding across large swaths of the country.

Mohammad Aslam Syas, deputy chief of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, says soldiers are distributing relief supplies Friday to people in areas unreachable by road.

He says that 165 people are known to have died in Panjshir province, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the capital Kabul, when avalanches buried homes in the Panjshir valley.

“Helicopters are dropping medicines, blankets and other necessary item to remote areas of the Panjshir, where the roads remain impassable because of the heavy snow,” he said.

Casualties are expected to climb as agencies reach remote avalanche and flood-hit areas.