At least 40 people have died in extreme weather in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, at least 31 people were killed in flash floods within 72 hours, as confirmed by the German Press Agency’s civil protection. In neighboring Pakistan, at least nine people died after heavy rains in a border province.
In the Pakistani province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa there was heavy rain with strong winds and thunderstorms over the weekend, as the newspaper “Dawn” reported. Landslides damaged roads and buildings. More than 100 people have died in the South Asian country since the monsoon rains began at the end of June.
The flash floods in Afghanistan, which killed at least 31 people, caused severe damage to buildings. In the province of Maidan Wardak, numerous residents were killed in their sleep by masses of water. According to the civil protection agency, dozens more people are missing. Hundreds of houses in a total of eight affected provinces are said to have been damaged or destroyed.
Severe weather extremes occur again and again in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both countries are suffering greatly from the consequences of climate change. After several decades of war and conflict, Afghanistan is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe. For almost two years now, Afghanistan has once again been ruled by the militant Islamist Taliban. Record floods in the monsoon season temporarily submerged a third of Pakistan in 2022, killing around 1,700 people.
