Heavy rain, snowfall kill 17, injure 11 in Afghanistan

Kabul [Afghanistan], January 2 (ANI): Heavy rains and snowfall in Afghanistan have ended a prolonged dry spell but triggered flash floods in several areas, killing at least 17 people and injuring 11 others, Al Jazeera reported, quoting the concerned authorities.
The dead included five members of a family whose roof collapsed on Thursday in Kabkan, a district in Herat province, Mohammad Yousaf Saeedi, spokesman for the Herat governor, said. Two of the victims were children.
Most of the casualties have occurred since Monday in districts hit by flooding, and the severe weather also disrupted daily life across central, northern, southern, and western regions, according to Mohammad Yousaf Hammad, a spokesman for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), as per Al Jazeera.
Hammad said the floods damaged infrastructure, killed livestock, and affected 1,800 families, worsening conditions in already vulnerable urban and rural communities.
He added that the agency has sent assessment teams to the worst-affected areas, with surveys ongoing to determine further needs.
A video clip accessed by Al Jazeera on X showed a truck overturning due to flash flooding on Afghanistan's Herat-Kandahar highway near Dasht-e Bakwa. Another video showed several people desperately trying to escape after their bus overturned in a strong flood current.
Afghanistan, like neighbouring Pakistan and India, is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, particularly flash floods following seasonal rains, as per Al Jazeera.
Decades of conflict, poor infrastructure, deforestation and the intensifying effects of climate change have amplified the impact of such disasters, especially in remote areas where many homes are made of mud and offer limited protection.
In August, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit Afghanistan near its border with Pakistan, killing more than 1,400 people, as per Al Jazeera.
Efforts to rescue people affected by the earthquake were hindered because of flash floods in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The United Nations and other aid agencies this week warned that Afghanistan is expected to remain one of the world's largest humanitarian crises in 2026, as per Al Jazeera. (ANI)