Floods leave 118 dead in Afghanistan in August, 63 of them in a week

Kabul, Aug 20 (EFE).- At least 118 people died – 63 of them in the past week -, 115 were injured and a some 30 have been missing since Aug.1 due to heavy rain and floods in several regions of Afghanistan.

Between Aug.16-21, monsoon rains claimed the lives of 63 people in at least eight Afghan provinces, according to a report published Wednesday by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Moreover, 115 others were injured, including women and children, and 30 were reported missing – four of them in Logar province (east), 15 in Maidan Wardak (center) and 11 in northern Parwan, the report said.

With these latest figures, the total number of deaths caused by rains have reached 256 so far this year, marking a 75 percent increase compared 2021, when 147 people lost their lives, according to OCHA data.

Moreover, a total 3,398 houses have been damaged or destroyed as a result of the floods, with Logar province accounting for some 3,000 houses, followed by 195 in Maidan Wardak and 188 in Parwan, according to the UN agency.

In Khushi in Logar province, some 7,000 cattle were reportedly killed and thousands of hectares of agricultural land was swept by floods, which could aggravate the severe humanitarian crisis facing Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power last year.

OCHA estimates that some 8,246 families have been affected by heavy rainfall in 13 of the 34 Afghan provinces, where rescue teams have been mobilized in the most affected areas.

Afghanistan frequently suffers from natural disasters resulting in numerous human losses, such as the landslides that killed 2,000 people in May 2014 in northeastern Afghanistan, a situation aggravated by nearly two decades of war.

Since the Taliban coming to power a year ago, the country has been experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis, with a population increasingly vulnerable to hardships and natural disasters, such as heavy rains and flooding. EFE

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