Renewed flash floods due to unusually heavy seasonal rains kill at least 15 people in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Renewed heavy rains have triggered more flash floods in Afghanistan, killing at least 15 people, including 10 members of the same family in the northeast, officials said Sunday.

The unusually heavy seasonal rains have been wreaking havoc on multiple parts of the country, killing hundreds of people and destroying property and crops. The UN food agency warned that survivors were unable to make a living.

The floods Saturday night hit northeastern Badakhshan and northern Baghlan provinces, with the latter already having suffered the brunt of the rains earlier this month.

The family — a set of parents and their eight children — was reported dead in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, said Mohammad Akram Akbari, director of the provincial natural disaster management department in the province, adding that rescue teams were only able to recover the mother's body.

In Baghlan province, Edayatullah Hamdard, provincial director of Natural Disaster Management, said at least 40 houses were destroyed in Doshi district, and several people have died but was unable to provide further details.

However, a local official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorised to talk to the press, reported that five bodies have so far been found in the province and rescue teams were looking for more.

Earlier, the World Food Program said the exceptionally heavy rains in Afghanistan had killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of houses, mostly in the northern province of Baghlan on May 10 and May 11. Survivors have been left with no home, no land, and no source of livelihood, WFP said.

In the western province of Ghor, 50 people were reported dead due to floods on May 18.

On May 19, at least 84 people were killed in northern Faryab, and around 1,500 houses were either completely or partially destroyed while hundreds of hectares (acres) of farmlands.

The latest disaster came on the heels of devastating floods that killed at least 70 people in April. The waters also destroyed about 2,000 homes, three mosques and four schools in western Farah and Herat, and southern Zabul and Kandahar provinces.