{"id":67408,"date":"2024-04-18T17:51:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T22:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67408"},"modified":"2024-04-18T17:51:17","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T22:51:17","slug":"flooding-in-central-asia-and-southern-russia-kills-scores-and-forces-tens-of-thousands-to-evacuate-to-higher-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67408","title":{"rendered":"Flooding in Central Asia and southern Russia kills scores and forces tens of thousands to evacuate to higher ground"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Flooding in Central Asia and southern Russia kills scores and forces tens of thousands to evacuate to higher ground<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
Unusually heavy seasonal rains have left a vast swath of southern Russia and Central Asia\u00a0reeling from floods<\/a><\/span>, with dozens of people dead in Afghanistan and Pakistan and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes in Kazakhstan and Russia.<\/p>\n

Authorities say the flooding \u2014 the atypical\u00a0intensity of which scientists blame on human-driven climate change<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u2014 is likely to get worse, with more rain predicted and already swollen rivers bursting their banks.<\/p>\n

Scores killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lightning and heavy rains killed at least 36 people in Pakistan, mostly farmers, over three days, emergency response officials said Monday, as a state of emergency was declared in the southwest of the country. Most of the deaths were blamed on farmers being struck by lightning and torrential rain collapsing houses, The Associated Press quoted regional disaster management spokesperson Arfan Kathia as saying Monday. He noted that more rain was expected over the coming week.<\/p>\n

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a televised address that he’d ordered authorities to rush aid to the affected regions, where swollen rivers and flash floods have also severely damaged roads.<\/p>\n

\"PAKISTAN-WEATHER<\/span>
Onlookers gaze towards municipal workers using heavy machinery to level the ground after damage due to floodwaters following heavy rains on the outskirts of Quetta on April 15, 2024.<\/span>BANARAS KHAN\/AFP\/GETTY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In neighboring Afghanistan, the country’s Taliban rulers said Sunday that heavy flooding from seasonal rains had killed at least 33 people and left more than two dozen others injured over three days. Abdullah Janan Saiq, the spokesman for the government’s disaster management agency, said the flash floods hit the capital, Kabul, and several other provinces.<\/p>\n

He said more than 600 homes were damaged or destroyed completely, with hundreds of acres of farmland destroyed and many farm animals killed.<\/p>\n

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