CNN reported on Sunday that the World Food Programme has confirmed the death toll from flooding in Afghanistan has surpassed 300.
The floods in the Afghan provinces of Badakhshan, Ghor, Baghlan, and Herat have led to a significant humanitarian crisis, causing widespread devastation. Approximately 2,000 homes have been affected by the flooding, resulting in extensive damage across the provinces.
Deadly floods in four districts of Baghlan have caused the deaths of at least 130 individuals, with around 100 others sustaining injuries. Local officials in Baghlan Province have expressed concern that the death toll could increase further. The floods have resulted in the loss of over a thousand residential homes, thousands of hectares of farmland, and hundreds of livestock, as per reports from CNN.
Families who have lost loved ones in the floods are urging the interim government and both local and international organizations to address the situation and rescue those still trapped. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) reports that hundreds of thousands of people are now stranded without access to essential services, prompting their emergency response efforts across seven affected provinces.
Salma Ben Aissa, director of IRC Afghanistan, emphasized the severity of the humanitarian crisis, noting that Afghanistan is already grappling with the aftermath of earthquakes earlier in the year and severe flooding in March. She described how livelihoods have been devastated, and entire families have been impacted by the flooding.
In addition to the recent Baghlan floods, heavy rainfall and flooding this month have claimed the lives of at least 14 individuals and caused widespread destruction across the country. Moreover, last month, nine people lost their lives when their homes collapsed due to heavy rainfall and flooding in the Greshk and Kajaki districts of Helmand province, Afghanistan.
