Flash floods Heavy seasonal rains have killed at least 68 people in Afghanistan, Taliban officials said on Saturday, adding that the death toll was based on preliminary reports.
Afghanistan has witnessed unusually heavy seasonal rains.
Fifty people were reportedly killed in the hard-hit western province of Ghor, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for the provincial governor. He also said the province has suffered significant financial losses after thousands of homes and properties were damaged and hundreds of hectares of farmland destroyed following Friday’s floods, including the capital Feroz Koh.
Omid Haqjoo/AP
Meanwhile, 18 people were killed and two others injured in the northern province of Farayab on Friday, said Esmatullah Moradi, the spokesman for the provincial governor. Damage to property and land was reported in four districts and more than 300 animals were killed, he added.
The UN food agency posted on social media platform WFP assessment teams are on the ground to deploy assistance, the post said.
The Taliban government’s chief spokesperson mourned “the loss of our fellow Afghans” in a post on He also called on “our willing donors” for assistance and humanitarian organizations to provide relief to affected communities.
Last week the WFP said this as an exception heavy rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of homes, especially in the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of the floods on May 10.
The survivors have no home, no land and no source of livelihood, the World Food Organization said. Most of Baghlan is “inaccessible to trucks,” the WFP said, adding that it is resorting to whatever alternative it can think of to deliver food to survivors.
The latest disaster followed devastating floods that killed at least 70 people in April. The waters also destroyed about 2,000 homes, three mosques and four schools in western Farah and Herat, and the southern provinces of Zabul and Kandahar.
Severe flooding in 2022 due to seasonal rains in the East Afghanistan and neighboring parts of Pakistan left dozens of people dead, according to local officials.
