At least 300 dead in Afghanistan flash floods; thousands of homes destroyed

NEW DELHI: Flash floods in northern Afghanistan killed at least 300 people, according to the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) statement on Saturday.
Residents who survived the disaster spent Saturday sifting through streets filled with mud and scattered debris, as well as inspecting structures that had been damaged, according to an AFP journalist's observations.Rescue personnel and assistance were dispatched by government agencies and non-governmental organizations, with warnings that the flooding had isolated certain regions, making them inaccessible.
In the province of Baghlan, located in the northern region of the country, the devastation was particularly severe. The World Food Programme (WFP) reported that over 300 lost their lives in this province alone. "On current information: in Baghlan province there are 311 fatalities, 2,011 houses destroyed and 2,800 houses damaged," Rana Deraz, communications officer for UN agency in Afghanistan, told AFP.
In the district of Baghlani Jadid, an IOM emergency response lead cited figures from the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, stating that up to 1,500 homes were impacted and "more than 100 people died". Taliban government officials reported 62 fatalities as of Friday night. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman, expressed on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday that "hundreds of our fellow citizens have succumbed to these calamitous floods" without specifying the exact numbers of dead and injured, although he informed AFP that dozens had lost their lives.
Flash flooding affected multiple provinces across Afghanistan, with officials in northern Takhar province reporting 20 deaths on Saturday. The heavy rains on Friday also caused significant damage in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, the central province of Ghor, and the western province of Herat, according to officials.
The defence ministry stated that emergency personnel have been deployed to the affected areas and are working to rescue injured and stranded individuals.
Afghanistan, a nation devastated by four decades of war and one of the poorest in the world, is considered by scientists to be one of the least prepared countries to face the consequences of global warming, aggravated by a relatively dry winter that made it more difficult for the soil to absorb the rainfall.