According to local officials on Sunday, seasonal rains caused heavy floodings in Afghanistan and neighboring parts of Pakistan left dozens of people dead overnight.
An exceptional monsoon season caused flooding in the eastern Afghan Province of Logar and neighboring Pakistan. It has led to more than 50 people being killed and several people are still missing.
There were press videos released that showed the Villagers of Khushi district of Logar Province South of Ashgan capital of Kabul, cleaning up their damaged homes after the heavy rains.
Fatalities due to Monsoon
The head of the province’s natural disaster response authority, Abdulla Mufaker said that they are still unsure about how many people were killed and injured but there were at least 9 fatalities. He said “the exact number is not clear for the time being, and the people have gone to remove the dead bodies”
Del Agha, a villager of Khushi said that the flooding was unrivaled in the history of Khushi. “It destroyed all the people’s animals, houses, and agricultural lands, people are homeless, they have been forced to take refuge in the mountains,” he said.
Pakistan faced the heaviest rains in decades
In neighboring Pakistan, flooding due to heavy monsoon rains led to at least 36 fatalities including 11 people dead in areas bordering Afghanistan, according to the country’s natural disaster management authority. The rescue workers helped by the military evacuated thousands of stranded people to safety, while more rains are expected in Pakistan this week according to the forecasters
Since June, 618 people have been dead due to the unrivaled heavy monsoon rains. More than 69.874 houses have been damaged leaving thousands of people homeless in remote villages.
The province of Balochistan and Sindh had been hardest hit by the flooding. According to the disaster agency, Balochistan faced 305% more rain than the annual average,
The monsoon season starts in July and continues through September.
Last week heavy rains caused flash floods killing 31 people and leaving dozens missing in northern Afghanistan.
Helicopters were used to rescue the trapped residents
The country’s National Disaster Management Authority’s Officials told DPA news they were using helicopters to rescue the trapped residents due to flooding.
Bilal Karimi, the Afghan government spokesperson requested the international community to provide aid.
“We urgently request the international community to join hands with the Afghans at this critical time and (to) spare no effort to help the victims,” Bilal Karimi said in an interview.
Since the Taliban came back to power again in august last year, foreign aid and disaster relief have been drastically reduced. The country was already facing a hunger crisis and the floods also came. The hunger crisis was partly caused by the lack of foreign aid and the Western sanction imposed on the Taliban.
Scores die every year
The summer monsoon season starts in July and extends through September in both countries due to which scores of people die every year, especially in rural areas.
The poor infrastructure has left Afghans more vulnerable to natural disasters. Health officials fear the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera, which occurs mostly in areas not having clean water to drink.
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