BISHKEK, July 13 (Reuters) - Inhabitants in east Uzbekistan, hit last week by deadly floods, were not warned of the threat of disaster by neighbouring Kyrgyzstan's weather service because of the absence of cash, a Kyrgyz official said on Monday.
At least 93 people have been killed so far in Uzbekistan's vast Fergana Valley region, defence and health ministry sources in the former Soviet republic said, while around 14,000 people have been evacuated.
Officials say thawing ice and snow in a mountainous area of neighbouring Kyrgyzstan caused a lake to overflow, adding to water levels along the Shakhimardan River which eventually broke its banks causing widespread destruction.
"Uzbekistan may well express its dissatisfaction," said Inna Mayatskaya, head of the weather monitoring, forecasting and information exchange department of Kyrgyzstan's Environment Ministry.
"On that day the Kyrgyz republic was informed, but in Uzbekistan they were not."
Torrents of mud and water bearing huge boulders smashed into wooden and clay huts and other dwellings. The Uzbek river's water levels rose three to four metres (yards) above normal. Reporters saw houses and bridges in ruins.
Weather services in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have now agreed to exchange information on extreme weather conditions.
Kyrgyztstan regularly issues flood and landslide warnings on national television and radio, but on this occasion the message did not get across the border.
Some inhabitants in the flooded area complained bitterly that they were given no prior warning of the threat.
Mayatskaya said that the Kyrgyz service had virtually halted helicopter monitoring of 1,500 or so mountain lakes which pose a threat to surrounding regions when they fill to overflowing.
"We are not monitoring lakes which are close to breaking their banks, and are not making forecasts on this," she said.
"During the last few years, because of the absence of cash, we have been unable to do fly-overs."
Mayatskaya added that the lake in this case was located close to a glacier in the Allaudin Alaisk mountain range.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov visited the affected area on Sunday, government officials said.
The Central Asian mission of the International Red Cross Federation based in Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty reported widespread destruction and suffering in the disaster area.
"Four hundred people from 53 families lost absolutely everything. The men do not even have shoes," it said in a statement, quoting one of its workers in the area.
"Another 100 people were made homeless and another 5,000 had their homes damaged on the Kyrgyzstan side of the border."
Only one person, a young girl, is reported to have died on the Kyrgyz side.