Flash floods due to unusually heavy seasonal rains kill at least 68 people in Afghanistan

Flash floods due to unusually heavy seasonal rains kill at least 68 people in Afghanistan


Remainings of houses damaged by the flood are pictured in Firozkoh the capital city of Ghor Province, Afghanistan, May 18, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer

Stringer | Reuters

Flash floods from heavy seasonal rains have killed at least 68 people in Afghanistan, Taliban officials said Saturday, adding the death toll was based on preliminary reports.

Afghanistan has been witnessing unusually heavy seasonal rains.

In the hard-hit western province of Ghor, 50 people were reported dead, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for the provincial governor. He also said the province has suffered significant financial losses after thousands of homes and properties were damaged and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land destroyed following Friday’s floods, including the capital city Feroz Koh.

Meanwhile, 18 people in the northern province of Farayab were killed and two others injured on Friday, according to Esmatullah Moradi, the provincial governor’s spokesman. Damages to property and land were reported across four districts and over 300 animals were killed, he added.

The U.N. food agency posted on social media platform X, saying Ghor was the most affected by the floods where 2500 families were impacted. WFP assessment teams are on the ground to deploy assistance, the post said.

The Taliban’s government chief spokesman mourned “the loss of our fellow Afghans,” and urged “responsible authorities … to provide all necessary support to alleviate the suffering,” in a post on X. He also called on “our benevolent donors” to help and humanitarian organizations to provide the affected communities with aid.

Last week, WFP said the exceptionally heavy rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of houses, mostly in the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of floods on May 10th.

Survivors have been left with no home, no land, and no source of livelihood, the World Food Organization said. Most of Baghlan is “inaccessible by trucks,” said WFP, adding that it is resorting to every alternative it can think of to deliver food to the survivors

The latest disaster came on the heels of devastating floods that killed at least 70 people in April. The waters also destroyed about 2,000 homes, three mosques and four schools in western Farah and Herat, and southern Zabul and Kandahar provinces.



Source

Bull market officially lives on with fresh S&P record, nears 1000 days
World

Bull market officially lives on with fresh S&P record, nears 1000 days

The S & P 500 punched through to a new record high on Friday, creating another milestone for a bull market that is now approaching its third birthday. The S & P 500 is up more than 70% since the current bull market began on Oct. 12, 2022, a period of 989 days, according to […]

Read More
Dan Niles says investors have to ‘forget about’ valuations and names his favorite tech stocks
World

Dan Niles says investors have to ‘forget about’ valuations and names his favorite tech stocks

Investors can suspend their focus on price to earnings and other multiples as the stock market rises to all-time highs, according to Dan Niles, portfolio manager and founder of Niles Investment Management. “You kind of have to forget about valuations for now,” Niles said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “Then we’re going to get […]

Read More
Traders head into the second half of the year with stocks at all-time highs, jobs report pending
World

Traders head into the second half of the year with stocks at all-time highs, jobs report pending

Next week kicks off a new trading month as well as the back half of 2025, and Wall Street will be watching to see if stocks keep up their recent momentum. Stocks have made a massive comeback after seeing steep declines in early April, when investor anxiety around President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policy put […]

Read More