Six killed, 100 homes destroyed in Afghan flood: official
Published May 24, 2023 12:39 pm
HERAT, Afghanistan - Six people have been killed and dozens of homes washed away in flooding in central Afghanistan, local authorities said Wednesday.
Abdul Wahid Hamas, a spokesman for the Taliban governor in central Ghor province, said three women and a child were killed when their house in the town of Firozkoh was washed away on Tuesday.
In Pasaband district, in the same province, a man and a woman were also swept away and later found dead, while a further person remains missing, Hamas said.
More than 100 houses and about 200 hectares (500 acres) of agricultural land were destroyed, with canals used to irrigate the fields damaged, he said.
"We don't have more details of the financial losses for now," Hamas told AFP.
Afghanistan is gripped by one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters according to aid agencies, and research describes the nation as highly vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather caused by climate change.
Nine out of ten Afghan families cannot afford enough food, the World Food Programme said in March.
Since the collapse of the US-backed government and the Taliban's return to power in 2021, huge inflows of aid dried up -- with foreign nations wary of dealing with Kabul's new rulers.
NGOs and the UN have also been subjected to restrictions by the Taliban government over employment of Afghan women to carry out vital aid work, whilst the world body has struggled to secure cash donations.
Ghor province has also been the epicentre of a prolonged drought in recent years.