More than 200 people killed in floods in Afghanistan - UN
Kyiv • UNN
More than 200 people have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed or damaged in Afghanistan in flash floods caused by heavy rains on Friday.
Flash floods that hit northern Afghanistan have killed more than 200 people in one province, the United Nations said Saturday. writes UNN citing AFP.
Details
More than 200 people were killed and thousands of homes destroyed or damaged in Baghlan province when heavy rains on Friday caused widespread flooding, the UN's International Organization for Migration told AFP.
Up to 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed and "more than 100 people were killed" in Baghlani-Jadid district alone, the IOM's emergency response chief said, citing data from Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority.
Taliban government officials said 62 people had been killed as of Friday evening.
Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said "hundreds of our fellow citizens have fallen victim to these catastrophic floods" in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, without specifying the number of dead and injured, although he told AFP news agency that dozens had died.
Flash flooding has hit many provinces in Afghanistan, with authorities in the northern province of Takhar reporting 20 deaths on Saturday.
The rains on Friday also caused severe damage in northeastern Badakhshan province, central Ghor province and western Herat, officials said.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the affected areas as they rushed to rescue injured and trapped people, according to the Defense Department.
Supplement
Afghanistan, which has had relatively dry winters, making it difficult for the soil to absorb precipitation, is very vulnerable to climate change.
The country, devastated by four decades of war, is one of the world's poorest and, according to scientists, one of the worst prepared for the effects of global warming.
