Afghanistan: Heavy rainfall kills 29 people, victims swept away by floodwaters

As many as 29 people died in Afghanistan on Tuesday as heavy and incessant rains lashed parts of the country. While 21 people died in the province of Farah, eight others lost their lives in Kandahar.

The head of Farah’s Disaster Management Department, Mohammad Israel Sayar, said that the victims were members of two families who were out for a picnic when downpours caused a flood-like situation.

Meanwhile, in Kandahar, the victims, which included women and children, were killed after they were swept away by floodwaters. “Today, four women who were busy washing clothes were swept away by floodwaters… and only one woman survived,” a statement by the local disaster management department said.

It added that a child drowned in Kandahar while a roof collapsed on a family killing one woman and three children.

Among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is spurring extreme weather.

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The country is ranked sixth on the list of nations that are most vulnerable to climate change.

Drought, floods, land degradation and declining agricultural productivity are key threats, the UN development agency’s representative in Afghanistan, Stephen Rodriques, said in 2023.

Flash floods in May last year killed hundreds and swamped swaths of agricultural land in Afghanistan, where 80 per cent of people depend on farming to survive.

With inputs from AFP