Afghanistan: Flash Flooding Claims Hundreds of Lives

At least 311 people died in Afghanistan due to flash flooding that hit Baghlan province in the north of the country on Friday, May 10. According to statements by Hedayatullah Hamdard, head of the provincial disaster management department, “very heavy and sudden rains that took people by surprise caused flooding, while residents were unprepared for the sudden deluge of waterfall.” Afghan authorities do not rule out that the tragic loss of life could still increase significantly. A state of disaster has been declared in the province, where heavy rain continued throughout the night from Friday to Saturday.

Heavy rains have destroyed more than a thousand homes and severely damaged large areas of agricultural land, threatening problems for future harvests and, consequently, famine of alarming proportions. Heavy rains also caused the deaths of an unspecified number of livestock, and the Taliban government has promised to compensate for the losses. The Taliban said climate change, as well as poor infrastructure management by “previous powers,” had contributed to the worsening situation in the flooded province.

According to UN experts, the increase in flooding is one of the consequences of global warming. Storms are getting stronger, and the amount of water falling as precipitation is increasing in response to more vapor present in the atmosphere due to higher temperatures. In recent days, widespread flooding in Brazil has killed at least 107 people and left 134 others missing. More than 85% of Rio Grande do Sul was affected by the floods: some 68,000 people were forced to live in adapted shelters, and more than 327,000 fled their homes.