At least 20 dead in Afghanistan as flash floods wreak havoc in crisis-ridden country

Deadly flash floods that hit Afghanistan in the last 48 hours have left dozens of people dead with hundreds of houses and acres of crop fields damaged.

The sudden deluge of flooding comes as extreme rainfall was already wreaking havoc in Afghanistan, destroying mud houses and killing dozens over the last few weeks.

This is also one in a series of natural disasters to hit the vulnerable nation which is going through a humanitarian crisis. A drought and a devastating earthquake earlier this year had left over 1,000 people dead.

“Twenty are dead, 35 have been injured due to flooding in Logar province,” said Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s disaster management authority.

Aid agencies working on the ground, however, believe the death toll could be much higher.

The Afghan Red Crescent, which is the Afghanistan affiliate for the Red Cross, said on Twitter that its five-day survey showed the series of flash floods heavily impacted villages like Bundestan, Ikhdar and Khishko Dara in the central Parwan Province near Kabul.

Hundreds of houses have been damaged while dozens have been completely destroyed. A large part of Afghanistan’s population suffering from poverty due to years of conflict lives in weak mud houses made with soil and stones that are prone to maximum damage in case of any disasters.

Heavy damage to the country’s infrastructural projects has also left many areas isolated, as bridges, dams, windmills and roads take a hit during the flooding season.

Agencies