Flash floods in northern Afghanistan are destroying livelihoods and leaving hundreds dead and missing

ISLAMABAD – Shopkeeper Nazer Mohammad ran home when he heard about flash floods shaking the outskirts of a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan. When he got there, there was nothing left, including his family of five.

“Everything happened suddenly. I came home but there was no home, instead I saw the whole neighborhood covered in mud and water,” Mohammad said. 48. He said he buried his wife and two sons aged 15 and 8, but is still looking for two daughters who are about 6 and 11 years old.

The U.N. food agency estimates that unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of homes, most of them in the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of flooding on Friday.

Mohammad said on Sunday he found the bodies of his wife and two sons late on Friday evening on the outskirts of Puli Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province.

“I hope someone found my daughters alive,” he said, holding back tears. “In the blink of an eye I lost everything: family, home, belongings, now I have nothing left.”

According to UNICEF, one of several international aid organizations sending aid teams, medicine, blankets and other supplies, 51 children are among the at least 240 dead. The World Health Organization said it had delivered 7 tonnes of medicine and emergency equipment.

According to the aid organization Save the Children, around 600,000 people, half of them children, live in the five districts in Baghlan that have been severely affected by the floods. The group said it had deployed a “clinic on wheels” with mobile health and child protection teams to support children and their families.

“Lives and livelihoods have been washed away,” said Arshad Malik, country director of Save the Children. “The flash floods swept through villages, sweeping away houses and killing livestock.” Children have lost everything. Families still suffering from the economic impact of the three-year drought need urgent help.”

He said Afghanistan was a country least prepared to deal with climate change, such as increased seasonal rainfall, and needed help from the international community.

At least 70 people died in April due to heavy rains and flash floods in the country, which also destroyed about 2,000 homes, three mosques and four schools.