More than 300 people have been killed in flash floods across several Afghan provinces, the United Nations World Food Program said, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency and rush to rescue the injured.
Heavy rains on Friday sent roaring rivers of water and mud rushing through villages and farmland in several states, creating what one aid group described as a “massive humanitarian emergency” and leaving many people dead. He went missing.
Survivors waded through muddy, debris-strewn streets and damaged buildings on Saturday as authorities and non-governmental groups sent rescue workers and aid and warned some areas were cut off by flooding.
According to the World Food Programme, the northern province of Baghlan was one of the worst-hit provinces, with more than 300 people killed and thousands of homes destroyed or damaged.
“Current information indicates that 311 people have been killed, 2,011 homes have been destroyed and 2,800 homes have been damaged in Baghlan province,” said Rana Delaz, a spokeswoman for the United Nations agency in Afghanistan.
There were discrepancies in the death toll announced by the government and humanitarian agencies.
The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration announced on Saturday that 218 people had died in Baghlan. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Khani told Agence France-Presse that 131 people had been killed in Baghlan, but that the government’s toll could be higher.
“Many people are still missing,” he said.
An additional 20 deaths were reported in the northern province of Takhar and two in the neighboring province of Badakhshan, he added.
“Hundreds of our compatriots have lost their lives in this tragic flood,” Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter/X.
He added: “The deluge caused widespread destruction in residential areas and significant economic losses.”
Officials said the country is poverty-stricken and heavily dependent on agriculture, and heavy rains caused major damage in Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, and the western provinces of Ghor and Herat.
“My house and my life were all washed away by the floods,” said Jan Mohammad Din Mohamad, a resident of Baghlan provincial capital Pourekhumli.
The family managed to escape to higher ground, but by the time they returned home when the weather cleared, “there was nothing left, all their belongings and the house had been destroyed,” he said.
“I don’t know where to take my family…I don’t know what to do.”
Emergency workers rushed to rescue injured Afghans who were stranded. The air force said it had begun evacuation operations as skies cleared on Saturday, adding that more than 100 injured people had been taken to hospitals.
“Due to the issuance of the state of emergency declaration, [affected] The Ministry of Defense has begun distributing food, medicine and first aid to the affected people.”
In Baghlan’s Baghlan-i-Markazi area, vehicles carrying food and water, as well as vehicles transporting the dead for burial, were seen.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “expresses solidarity with the people of Afghanistan” [and] We express our condolences to the families of the victims,” said Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, adding that the United Nations was working with local authorities to provide assistance.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is also preparing for a rapid response, and the floods are a warning to world leaders and donor nations to help the country, ravaged by decades of conflict and hit by natural disasters. It should serve as a “wake-up call” to remind us not to forget, he added.
IRC Country Director Salma Ben Aissa said: “The recent floods have created a massive humanitarian emergency in Afghanistan, which is still reeling from a series of earthquakes this year and severe flooding in March. I’m doing it,” he said.
According to authorities, about 100 people have been killed in 10 Afghan provinces since mid-April due to flash floods and other flooding.
In this country, where 80% of the population of more than 40 million people depends on agriculture, farmland is disappearing.
Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to climate change because its winters have been relatively dry and its soil has had a harder time absorbing rainfall.
The country, ravaged by four decades of war, is one of the world’s poorest countries and, scientists say, one of the worst prepared for the effects of global warming.
Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, said on Twitter/X that the floods were “a stark reminder of Afghanistan’s vulnerability to the climate crisis.”
“We need both immediate assistance and long-term planning from the Taliban and international actors.”
