Flash floods kill at least 68 people in Afghanistan after heavy rain

Flash floods from heavy seasonal rain in Afghanistan have killed at least 68 people, a Taliban official said on Saturday, adding the death toll was based on preliminary reports and might rise.

Afghanistan has been experiencing unusually heavy seasonal rain.

The hard-hit province of Ghor has suffered significant financial losses, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for the provincial governer, after thousands of homes and properties were damaged and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land destroyed following Friday’s floods, including the capital city Feroz Koh.

Meanwhile, 18 people in the northern province of Farayab were killed and two others injured on Friday, according to Esmatullah Moradi, the provincial governor’s spokesman. Damage to property and land was reported across four districts and more than 300 animals were killed, he added.

The UN food agency posted on social media platform X, saying Ghor was the most affected by the floods where 2,500 families were affected. World Food Programme (WFP) assessment teams are on the ground to deploy assistance, the post said.

The Taliban’s government chief spokesman 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 organisations to provide the affected communities with aid.

Last week, the UN food agency said the unusually heavy seasonal rain in Afghanistan has 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 WFP 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.