KABUL, March 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Flash floods caused by heavy rains have
killed at least 35 people in Afghanistan, washing away houses and cutting off
access to remote villages across parts of the country, officials said
Saturday.
Heavy flooding that started early Friday killed at least 12 people in the
northern province of Faryab and 10 people in the western province of Herat,
said Hashmat Bahaduri, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Disaster
Management Authority (ANDMA).
Eight people were killed in Badghis province in the west and five in Balkh
province in the north, Bahaduri told AFP, adding that more than 3,000 houses
had been destroyed.
In Herat, 10 districts and some parts of Herat city were impacted, said
Jailani Farhad, spokesman for the province’s governor.
“Hundreds of houses have been destroyed and thousands displaced,” he said.
Mir Gulabuddin Miri, director of the Afghan Red Crescent in Herat, said
access to some areas had been cut off, preventing teams from reaching
affected people.
“The destruction is huge. Over 12 areas in the province have been badly
hit, people have lost their houses. We’ve only been able to provide them with
some food and blankets so far,” he said.
Aid workers in the northern provinces of Faryab and Balkh have also been
struggling to deliver humanitarian assistance to affected families.
“We have dispatched our food and non-food assistance for the affected
families, but the scale of the disaster is massive. We need more humanitarian
assistance,” an ANDMA spokesman in northern Afghanistan told AFP.
Rescue and aid delivery efforts after disasters such as avalanches and
flash floods — which often hit as snow melts in the spring — are frequently
hampered by a lack of equipment in Afghanistan.
Poor infrastructure also makes it difficult for aid workers to reach
isolated areas.
Earlier this month, at least 20 people were killed by flash floods caused
by heavy rains that swept away thousands of homes and vehicles in southern
Kandahar province.