Saturday, May 18, 2024

Flash Floods Due to Unusually Heavy Seasonal Rains Kill at Least 50 People in Western Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Flash floods from heavy seasonal rains in the province of Ghor in western Afghanistan have killed at least 50 people, a Taliban official said on Saturday, adding the death toll was based on preliminary reports and might rise.

Dozens others remain missing, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for Ghor’s provincial governor.

He also said the province suffered significant financial losses 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.

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 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.

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Photos You Should See – May 2024

TOPSHOT - A woman wades through flood waters at an inundated residential area in Garissa, on May 9, 2024. Kenya is grappling with one of its worst floods in recent history, the latest in a string of weather catastrophes, following weeks of extreme rainfall scientists have linked to a changing climate. At least 257 people have been killed and more than 55,000 households have been displaced as murky waters submerge entire villages, destroy roads and inundate dams. (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP) (Photo by LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images)