More than 200 dead in flash floods in Afghanistan: UN

LAQAYI, Afghanistan (AP) — More than 200 people were killed in flash floods in several Afghan provinces, the United Nations said Saturday, as authorities declared a state of emergency and rushed to rescue the injured.

Heavy rains sent raging torrents of water and mud through villages and agricultural areas in several provinces on Friday, with northern Baghlan worst affected.

In Baghlan alone, more than 200 people were killed and thousands of houses were destroyed or damaged, the United Nations International Organization for Migration told AFP.

In one district, Baghlani Jadid, up to 1,500 houses were damaged or destroyed and “more than 100 people died,” said Mohammad Fahim Safie, the national program officer who led the IOM’s emergency response, citing government figures.

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

“Hundreds of our fellow citizens have fallen victim to these catastrophic floods,” government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement sent to X on Saturday.

He made no distinction between the number of dead and injured but told AFP that dozens had been killed.

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 rushed to rescue injured and stranded people.

“In addition to the human casualties, these floods have also caused huge financial losses to the people,” said Ahmad Seyar Sajid, head of the natural disaster management department in northern Takhar province, where he estimated 20 people died in the floods.

– Emergency –

The Defense Ministry directed several branches to “provide all kinds of assistance to the victims of this incident using all available means.”

The air force said it began evacuation operations as the weather cleared on Saturday, adding that more than a hundred injured people had been taken to hospital, although it did not specify from which provinces.

“With the declaration of a state of emergency in the (affected) areas, the Ministry of Defense has started distributing food, medicine and first aid to the affected people,” it said.

Video footage posted on social media on Friday showed huge torrents of muddy water flooding streets and bodies wrapped in white and black sheets.

In a video clip, children can be heard crying and a group of men look at the floodwaters, where broken wood and rubble from houses can be seen.

Since mid-April, flash floods and other flooding in ten Afghan provinces have killed around 100 people, although no region has been completely spared, according to authorities.

Farmland was flooded in a country where 80 percent of the more than 40 million people rely on agriculture to survive.

Afghanistan – which experienced a relatively dry winter that made it difficult for the soil to absorb rainfall – 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.