(Kabul) At least 35 people were killed and 230 injured on Monday by rains accompanied by violent storms in the city of Jalalabad and its surroundings, in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial official told AFP.
“On Monday night, rains triggered by thunderstorms killed 35 people and injured 230 others in Jalalabad and some districts of Nangarhar,” said Quraishi Badloon, head of the information and culture department of the province bordering Pakistan.
“The number of victims is likely to increase,” he warned, adding that “the wounded and the bodies had been taken to Fatima-tul-Zahra hospital in Jalalabad,” the large city in eastern Afghanistan and capital of Nangarhar province.
The death toll is explained by the fact that “the heavy rains caused trees, walls and roofs of houses to collapse,” he added.
In photos released by the province’s Department of Information and Culture, numerous medical personnel in white or blue coats are seen providing care to the injured: medication or administering IVs.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Residents collect mud following flash floods after heavy rains in Pesgaran village, Panjshir province, on July 15.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban government, reacted in the evening on the social network X, declaring: “we share the pain of the families of the victims.”
“The relevant departments of the Islamic Emirate have been asked to visit the affected areas as soon as possible. […] and to provide shelter, food and medicine to displaced people,” he added.
Afghanistan, a country highly exposed to the effects of climate change, has recently recorded catastrophic floods in various provinces, which notably caused at least 66 deaths in mid-May in Faryab (North) and 55 in Ghor (West).
The province of Baghlan (North) experienced extremely devastating flash floods on May 10, which left at least 300 dead and many missing, as well as considerable material damage.
Afghanistan had experienced an unusually rainy spring, after an exceptionally dry winter.
The country is one of the poorest in the world and aid efforts there are suffering from a severe lack of financial resources.