KABUL (AP) – At least 182 people have been killed and hundreds more injured during a month of heavy flooding from seasonal rains in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations and the ruling Taliban.
Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban’s spokesman, said Thursday that more than 250 people were injured as the result of the flash flooding, while more than 3,000 houses were either destroyed or damaged. Mujahid said at least 182 people had been killed.
The heaviest death toll occurred between August 16 and August 21, when 63 people were killed in the flash floods. Thirty others are reported missing and more than 8,200 families are affected across 13 provinces, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Recently in eastern Logar province, villagers in the Khushi district had said that the flooding was unprecedented in the area’s history. There, the deluge has wiped out animals, houses and agricultural lands. People have been driven from their homes to find refuge in the mountains.
In northern Parwan province, the flash floods swept away dozens of homes in the three affected districts.
The local weather department has warned that more rains were expected in the coming days in most of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Heavy rains and flash floods across the country killed 40 people in July and 19 people the month before.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan a year ago, the nation has witnessed natural disasters including a drought and an earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people in June.
The economic and humanitarian crises have been exacerbated by the freezing of billions in assets held abroad and a slash in aid funding.
In February, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order that would seize the Afghan assets and move half to a fund purportedly designated for humanitarian aid for Afghanistan.
The freeze of Afghan assets has continued despite millions of people in the country being on the brink of starvation.