ISLAMABAD– Renewed heavy rains triggered new flash floods in Afghanistan, killing at least 15 people, including 10 members of the same family in the northeast, officials said Sunday.
Unusually heavy seasonal rains have ravaged many parts of the country, killing hundreds of people and destroying properties and crops. The United Nations food agency warned that survivors were unable to earn a living.
Saturday night’s floods hit northeastern Badakhshan and northern Baghlan provinces, the latter having already borne the brunt of the rains earlier this month.
The family – made up of parents and their eight children – was reported dead in Badakhshan’s capital Faizabad, said Mohammad Akram Akbari, director of the province’s provincial natural disaster management department, adding that rescue teams did not were only able to recover the bodies. the mother’s body.
In Baghlan province, Edayatullah Hamdard, provincial director of natural disaster management, said at least 40 houses were destroyed in Doshi district and several people died, but he was unable to to provide more details.
However, a local official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, reported that five bodies had so far been found in the province and that rescue teams were searching for more. any further.
Earlier, the World Food Program said unusually heavy rains in Afghanistan killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of homes, mainly in the northern province of Baghlan on May 10-11. and no source of livelihood, WFP said.
In the western province of Ghor, 50 people were reported killed by floods on May 18.
On May 19, at least 84 people were killed in northern Faryab and around 1,500 houses were fully or partially destroyed along with hundreds of hectares (acres) of agricultural land.
This latest disaster follows devastating floods that killed at least 70 people in April. The waters also destroyed around 2,000 houses, three mosques and four schools in western Farah and Herat, as well as southern Zabul and Kandahar provinces.
