Flash floods from heavy seasonal rains in western Afghanistan have killed at least 50 people and dozens remain missing, a Taliban official said Saturday, adding the death toll was based on preliminary reports and might rise.
Afghanistan has been witnessing unusually heavy seasonal rains.
The hard-hit province of Ghor has suffered significant financial losses, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for the provincial governor, after thousands of homes and properties were damaged and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land destroyed following Friday’s floods, including the capital, Feroz Koh.
The Taliban’s government chief spokesperson posted on social platform X, mourning “the loss of our fellow Afghans” and urged “responsible authorities ... to provide all necessary support to alleviate the suffering.” He also called on “our benevolent donors” to help and humanitarian organizations to provide aid.
Last week, the U.N. food agency said the exceptionally heavy rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of houses, mostly in the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of floods on May 10.
Survivors have been left with no home, no land and no source of livelihood, the World Food Organization said. Most of Baghlan is “inaccessible by trucks,” said the WFP, adding that it is resorting to every alternative it can think of to deliver food to the survivors.
The latest disaster came on the heels of 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 southern Zabul and Kandahar provinces.
