Flash flooding Friday night in northern Afghanistan is feared to have killed hundreds of people and destroyed thousands of homes, the BBC reported Saturday.
Heavy rain in Baghlan province (north of the capital of Kabul) contributed to the fatal flooding, with officials warning that more rain in the region will likely raise the count of the dead and missing, according to BBC.
“On current information: in Baghlan province there are 311 fatalities, 2,011 houses destroyed and 2,800 houses damaged,” United Nations communications officer Rana Deraz, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), the BBC reported. (RELATED: At Least 80 Dead, Over 100 Missing As Heavy Flooding Ravages Afghanistan)
#BREAKING | Death toll from Afghanistan floods rises to more than 300: WFP#AfghanistanFloods pic.twitter.com/FIeDph1Htn
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Since mid-April, regional flooding has killed dozens of people, with this latest disaster claiming hundreds of lives, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s interior ministry told the BBC.
Although helicopters were sent to Baghlan, a shortage of night vision lights might make the operation unsuccessful, the ministry spokesperson told Reuters, the BBC reported.
Army and emergency crews were “searching for any possible victims under the mud and rubble,” a local official told AFP news agency, according to the BBC.
There are many factors that contribute to flooding, but extreme rainfall caused by changes in climate make such disasters more likely, according to the BBC. Flash floods, which occur when drainage systems can’t handle heavy rains, kill people every year in Afghanistan’s rural areas where houses are poorly built, according to the outlet.
Experts rank Afghanistan among the world’s most at-risk nations from the effects of climate change. The country experienced a dry winter which made soil less likely to absorb rainfall, the BBC reported.
Afghanistan, a nation which suffered decades of war before U.S.-led forces withdrew and the Taliban took control in 2021, is one of the poorest countries in the world, the BBC reported.