More than 300 people were killed in flash floods that ripped through multiple Afghan provinces, the UN’s World Food Programme said on Saturday, as authorities declared a state of emergency and rushed to rescue the injured.
Heavy rains on Friday sent roaring rivers of water and mud crashing through villages and across agricultural land in several provinces.
Survivors on Saturday picked through muddy, debris-littered streets and damaged buildings, an AFP journalist saw, as authorities and non-governmental groups deployed rescue workers and aid, warning that some areas had been cut off by the flooding.
Northern Baghlan province was one of the hardest hit, with more than 300 people killed there alone, and thousands of houses destroyed or damaged, according to WFP.
Flash floods that have ripped through northern Afghanistan left more than 200 people dead in a single province, the United Nations said on Saturday.
In Baghlani Jadid district alone, up to 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed and “more than 100 people died”, an IOM emergency response lead said, citing figures from the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority.
Taliban government officials said 62 people had died as of Friday night.
Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said “hundreds of our fellow citizens have succumbed to these calamitous floods” in a statement on X, on Saturday, without differentiating the numbers of dead and injured, though he told AFP that dozens had been killed.
Multiple provinces across Afghanistan saw flash flooding, with officials in northern Takhar province reporting 20 dead on Saturday.
Emergency personnel have been deployed to the affected areas and were rushing to rescue injured and stranded people, the defence ministry said. Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to climate change.
“In addition to human casualties, these floods have also caused huge financial losses to the people,” said Ahmad Seyar Sajid, head of the natural disasters management department in northern Takhar province, where he estimated 20 people have died in the flooding.
The defence ministry ordered multiple branches “to provide any kind of assistance to the victims of this incident with all available resources”.
“By announcing the state of emergency in (affected) areas, the Ministry of National Defense has started distributing food, medicine and first aid to the impacted people,” it said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Saturday expressed condolences on the tragic loss of over 200 precious lives and widespread damage to properties caused by devastating floods in Afghanistan.
In a statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: “The government and the people of Pakistan express their heartfelt condolences on the tragic loss of life and widespread damage to property caused by heavy rains and flash floods in several provinces of Afghanistan.”
She further said that their thoughts and prayers were with the families of the victims, injured and the communities affected by this natural calamity.
“We pray for the early recovery of those missing.”
Pakistan stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan during this difficult time, she added.—Agencies
