KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Torrential rain and flooding in southern Afghanistan have claimed at least six lives and left thousands homeless.

Two cars travelling through the district of Shah Wali Kot were caught in floodwaters and swept away, a spokesman for Kandahar Gov. Tooryalai Wesa said Monday.

Zalmai Ayubi told The Canadian Press that authorities recovered six bodies but 10 people were still missing along with both vehicles.

"According to information, they were driving their cars and they were unmoving (when they were caught in the floodwaters)," he said.

"And this morning, six bodies we've found and the cars up to now have not been found. They're gone."

The heavy rain also displaced as many as 3,500 people, mostly nomads known as Kuchis, who live in rural districts outside Kandahar city, Ayubi said.

Most Kuchis are part of the Pashtun tribe that dominates southern Afghanistan. There are around three million Kuchis across the country, and though they live a nomadic lifestyle, they are well connected and news travels quickly among distant relations.

In recent years, natural disasters such as flood and drought in southern Afghanistan have displaced more than 100,000 of the nomads.

More than 500 mud houses have been damaged in and outside Kandahar city, Ayubi said.

Afghan National Army helicopters had to be called in to rescue some 250 people from rising floodwaters in a village in the Panjwaii district, to the south of Kandahar city.

"This village was surrounded by water," Ayubi said.

Those people have been evacuated to dry land and authorities are providing them with food, shelter and medical care, Ayubi added.

And, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that 11 people, including five children, also died when heavy rain and flooding hit Farah province in western Afghanistan on Sunday.

The downpour had finally let up Monday after two days of heavy rain and thunderstorms. But the weather is expected to remain cold, at times below the freezing mark, for the next few days.

Much of Kandahar Airfield, the biggest military base in southern Afghanistan and home to the bulk of Canada's 2,800 troops stationed here, was still waterlogged Monday evening.

Deep puddles have turned the base into a muddy mess, and some tents have flooded.

The poor weather comes as coalition forces prepare to mount a massive attack on the Taliban-held town of Marjah in neighbouring Helmand province.

The attack is called Operation Mushtarak -- Dari for "together" -- and it is expected to be by far the largest offensive staged since U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan to try to quell a spreading insurgency.