News / Afghanistan

At least 50 people killed in flash floods in Afghanistan

Saturday, 18 May 2024 10:30 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 18 May 2024 10:30 AM ]

Dead bodies of Afghan people are placed on the ground after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, on May 11, 2024. (Photo by AP)

At least 50 people have lost their lives and thousands of houses been destroyed due to heavy rainfall and flooding in central Afghanistan, which is already reeling from years of war and economic crisis.

Police spokesman of the central Ghor province Abdul Rahman Badri said Saturday several people were also missing.

“Fifty residents of Ghor province were killed by the floods on Friday and a number of others are missing,” Badri said in a statement.

“These terrible floods have also killed thousands of cattle... They have destroyed hundreds of hectares of agricultural land, hundreds of bridges and culverts, and destroyed thousands of trees,” he added.

Mawlawi Abdul Hai Zaeem, the information department chief of central Ghor province, said in the capital of Feroz-Koh, 2,000 houses had been destroyed, 4,000 partially damaged, and over 2,000 shops submerged due to flooding.

Major roads into and within the province were completely blocked.

Last week, authorities said villages in northern Afghanistan had been devastated by flash floods which killed 315 people and left more than 1,600 others injured.

Afghanistan faces frequent natural disasters, leading the United Nations to classify it as one of the country’s most at risk from climate change.

The land-locked country has faced a funding shortage because of the West's embargo since the Taliban assumed control and foreign forces left in 2021.

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