Afghanistan floods kill 300 people and destroy 1,000 homes, says UN
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Flash floods from unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed at least 1,000 houses, the UN food agency said on Saturday.
The World Food Programme said it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors of one of the many floods that hit Afghanistan over the last few weeks, with mostly the northern province of Baghlan bearing the brunt of the deluges on Friday.
The official death toll from devastating flash floods was lower, with Taliban’s interior ministry putting it at 153 people across three provinces.
In neighboring Takhar province, state-owned media outlets reported the floods killed at least 20 people.
Zabihullah Mujahid, chief spokesman for the Taliban government, posted on X that “hundreds ... have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries”.
Mujahid identified the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor and Herat as the worst hit.
He added that “the extensive devastation” had resulted in “significant financial losses”.
He said the government had ordered all available resources mobilised to rescue people, transport the injured and recover the dead.
The defence ministry said on Saturday that the country’s air force had already begun evacuating people in Baghlan and had rescued a large number of people trapped in flooded areas and transported 100 injured people to military hospitals in the region.
Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, said on X that the floods were a stark reminder of Afghanistan’s vulnerability to the climate crisis and both immediate aid and long-term planning by the Taliban and international actors were needed.
Videos posted on social media showed dozens of people gathered on Saturday behind the hospital in Baghlan looking for their loved ones.
An official tells them that they should go and start digging graves while their staff are busy with preparing bodies for the burial ceremony.
Officials previously said that in April at least 70 people died from heavy rains and flash flooding in the country.
About 2,000 homes, three mosques and four schools were also damaged.
