At least 17 dead as heavy rains trigger flash floods in Afghanistan

Authorities in Afghanistan say at least 17 people have died and 11 others have been injured as a result of a prolonged dry spell brought on by heavy rains and snowfall.

According to a spokesman for the Herat governor, Mohammad Yousaf Saeedi, the deceased included five family members in the home in Kabkan, a district in the Herat province, where the roof fell on Thursday. The victims were both young people.

According to Mohammad Yousaf Hammad, a spokesman for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), the majority of the casualties have been reported since Monday in districts hit by flooding, and severe weather has also hampered daily life in many of the affected areas.

According to Hammad, the floods worsen conditions in already fragile urban and rural communities, causing damage to infrastructure, killing livestock, and affecting 1,800 families.

He added that surveys are being conducted to determine future needs and that the agency has sent assessment teams to the worst-affected regions.

A truck overturned on the highway in Afghanistan’s Herat-Kandahar province due to flash flooding, according to a video clip posted on X.

Another video showed several people trying to run away after their bus flipped in a strong flood current.

Extreme weather events, particularly flash floods that result from recurring rain, are highly a possibility in Afghanistan, along with Pakistan and India.

The effects of such disasters have grown more severe as a result of decades of conflict, deficient infrastructure, deforestation, and climate change, particularly in remote areas where many homes are made of mud and offer little protection.

More than 1,400 people were killed in an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 that struck Afghanistan near its border with Pakistan in August.

The Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, saw flash floods that hampered rescue efforts.

Afghanistan is expected to remain one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises in 2026, according to a warning issued by the UN and other aid organizations this week.