More than 200 dead in flash floods in Afghanistan: UN | Northwest and National News

Flash floods that hit northern Afghanistan have killed more than 200 people in a single province, the United Nations said on Saturday.

More than 200 people were killed and thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged in Baghlan province as heavy rains led to massive flooding on Friday, the United Nations International Organization for Migration told AFP.

In Baghlani Jadid district alone, up to 1,500 houses were damaged or destroyed and “more than 100 people died,” an IOM emergency relief chief said, citing figures from the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority.

Taliban government officials said 62 people had died as of Friday evening.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on Saturday

Flash flooding has occurred in several provinces of Afghanistan, with officials in northern Takhar province reporting 20 deaths on Saturday.

Rains on Friday also caused heavy damage in northeastern Badakhshan province, central Ghor province and western Herat, officials said.

According to the Defense Ministry, rescue workers were dispatched to the affected areas and rushed to rescue injured and stranded people.

Afghanistan – which had a relatively dry winter, making it harder for the soil to absorb rain – is highly vulnerable to climate change.

The country, devastated by four decades of war, is one of the poorest in the world and, according to scientists, one of the countries least prepared for the consequences of global warming.

bw/mtp