The UN’s International Organization for Migration told AFP that Friday’s intense rains caused significant floods in Baghlan province, which resulted in the deaths of over 200 people and the destruction or damage of thousands of homes.
An IOM emergency response lead stated, citing data from the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, that “more than 100 people died” and that up to 1,500 dwellings were damaged or destroyed in the Baghlani Jadid district alone.
As of Friday night, 62 people had killed, according to Taliban administration authorities.
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Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated in a message on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday that “hundreds of our fellow citizens have succumbed to these calamitous floods” without providing an exact figure for the number of dead or injured, however he did confirm with AFP that scores had perished.
Flash floods occurred in several districts around Afghanistan; on Saturday, officials in the northern Takhar province reported 20 fatalities.
According to officials, Friday’s rains also severely damaged western Herat, central Ghor province, and northeastern Badakhshan province.
According to the defense ministry, emergency professionals have been sent to the affected areas and are working quickly to save the injured and trapped.
Afghanistan is extremely vulnerable to climate change because of its unusually dry winter, which made it harder for the soil to absorb rainfall.
The country is among the poorest in the world and, scientists claim, among the least equipped to deal with the effects of climate change due to the devastation caused by four decades of conflict.