ISLAMABAD (AP) — Flash floods caused by heavy seasonal rains in western Afghanistan’s Ghor province have killed at least 50 people, a Taliban official said Saturday, adding that the death toll was based on preliminary reports and could rise .
Dozens of others remain missing, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for the provincial governor of Ghor.
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.
Last week, the UN food agency said unusually heavy seasonal 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.
