At least 16 dead in flash floods in Afghanistan

Kabul, May 4 (EFE).- Flash floods caused by heavy rains have caused the death of at least 16 people, including four children, in the Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

Heavy rains overnight caused severe flooding in the provinces of herat, Ghor, Maidan Wardak, Baghlan, Samangan, Khost, Bamyan, Daikundi and Badakhshan, also causing damages to livestock and farmland.

“Based on the initial information in these flash floods at least 16 people are martyred, 10 are missing in nine provinces of the country,” the State Ministry for Disaster Management said in a statement.

Hundreds of acres of farmland and orchards, and nearly 250 houses have been damaged or destroyed in the rains and flood.

The State Ministry for Disaster Management has begun relief efforts in these nine provinces, while rescue teams have been trying to locate some 10 people who remain missing.

The western province of Herat was the most severely affected where “12 villagers including four children and a woman were killed” in Adraskan district, Herat Governor’s spokesperson Jailani Farhad told EFE.

Provincial administration has created an emergency response committee in Herat to deal for disaster response efforts in the affected districts.

Flash floods comes a few days after the Afghan Meteorological Department on May 2 issued warnings of heavy rains and flash floods with rainfall of between 10-30mm in 15 of the 34 provinces.

According to the warning, heavy rains are expected to continue until tomorrow and in 23 of the 34 provinces in the country.

Afghanistan often suffers from natural disasters causing the loss of numerous lives, such as the landslides in May 2014 in the north-eastern part of the country that left some 2,000 people dead.

In August last year, nearly 200 people were killed and some 1,000 houses destroyed in floods caused by heavy rains in around dozen Afghan provinces. EFE

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