Heavy rain has fallen in eastern Afghanistan in the past 24 hours. Flash floods caused by the rains killed at least 29 people and destroyed dozens of homes in Parwan, Kapisa and Nangarhar provinces, officials said Monday (15 August).
At least twenty people were killed and more than fifty injured in Parwan, according to Mohammad Naseeb Haqqani, spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry. Five people died in Kapisa province and four in Nangarhar province, he added.
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One hundred people are still missing in Parwan, said Hekmatullah Shamim, spokesman for the provincial governor. “Crops, dozens of houses and roads were destroyed,” Mohammad Naseeb Haqqani told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Rescue teams and emergency aid have been dispatched to the affected areas. Dozens of Afghans die each year from torrential rains, particularly in poor rural areas where poorly constructed houses can easily collapse.