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New flash floods hit Afghanistan, leave dozens dead

May 18, 2024

Heavy rain has wreaked havoc in central Afghanistan, with the country still reeling from last week's floods. Thousands of houses were destroyed or damaged and large swaths of farmland are flooded, local police have said.

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People stand near damaged homes after heavy flooding in Afghanistan
Afghanistan already lost hundreds of people in a previous wave of floods earlier in MayImage: AP/picture alliance

At least 50 people were killed as they were washed away in a new flash flood triggered by torrential rains in central Afghanistan, an official said on Saturday.

"Fifty residents of Ghor province were killed by the floods on Friday and several others are missing," Ghor police spokesman Abdul Rahman Badri said in a statement.

There is no data available on the number of people who were injured in the rainstorm that hit the region on Friday, Mawlawi Abdul Hai Zaeem, the head of the information department for the central Ghor province told the Reuters news agency.

At least 2,000 houses were destroyed and 4,000 were partially damaged, some 2,000 shops were submerged and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land destroyed in the province's capital, Feroz-Koh, according to Zaeem.

Taliban's poor response to flash floods criticized

Several key roads remain blocked due to the flooding.

Second catastrophe in a week

Afghanistan is still reeling from the impact of flash floods that struck the northern province of Baghlan last week.

At least 315 people were killed and more than 1,600 were injured, authorities said Sunday.

Survivors have been left with no home, no land and no source of livelihood, said the World Food Organization.

A helicopter of the Afghan Air Force crashed on Wednesday due to "technical issues" during an attempt to recover the bodies of the people who had fallen in a river in Ghor province.

At least one person was killed and 12 others were injured in the accident, the country's Defense Ministry said.

Afghanistan is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate-induced disasters, according to the United Nations. However, it has faced a shortage of aid funds since the Taliban took over as foreign forces withdrew from the country in 2021.

Afghanistan: Thousands in need of aid after deadly floods

mfi/dj (AFP, Reuters)