Parts of Afghanistan reel under flash floods causing heavy property damage

KABUL, (ANI): Heavy rains and flash floods in the Panjshir and Takhar provinces of Afghanistan have damaged property extensively, officials said on Friday. An officer of the Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs of Panjshir province, Mohammad Akram said, “Heavy rain and flash floods swept out several gardens, farmlands and bridges in Nawabad and Abrina villages of Abshar district on Thursday night.”

He said that the property damage was too huge to survey and did not specify whether there was any loss of life. However, he said a survey was underway to identify the affected families, Xinhua reported. The downpour and floods also damaged parts of the Ashkamish district of northern Takhar province on Thursday night.

A district official, Noor Alam, said that a survey had been initiated to determine the damage to property and possible loss of life caused by the flooding. In the last week, around 39 people died in incidents of flash flooding with new districts in the east, south, southeast, and central regions of Afghanistan impacted by heavy rains.

“Since 5 July, flash floods have reportedly killed 39 people across five provinces,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a flood update. The heavy rains damaged or destroyed around 2,900 houses, a tenfold increase since the last reporting period, and also disrupted livelihoods. Critical civilian infrastructure such as roads and bridges have also been impacted.

Multiple localized assessments and relief operations are ongoing. OCHA said that it continues to coordinate the emergency response on behalf of humanitarian partners in all four regions affected – central, eastern, southern, and south-eastern regions. Over the past month, about 400 people reportedly have lost their lives due to monsoon rains and flooding in Afghanistan. (ANI)