Death toll rises to 14 in rainstorms, flooding in Afghanistan

KABUL: At least 14 people have been confirmed dead due to a new round of heavy rains and flash floods in the western Herat and northern Sari Pul provinces of Afghanistan as well as adjoining areas over the past couple of days, officials said Sunday.

Heavy rains and flash floods killed seven people in Herat province over the past couple of days, provincial director for the disaster management authority Musa Ashhari confirmed.

Similarly, the rainstorms and flooding claimed one life in Herat’s neighboring Farah province and two in Ghor province over the period, local officials said.

In the country’s northern regions, downpours and flash floods also killed two persons in Jawzjan province and two others in Sari Pul province over the past three days, according to local officials.

A man and a child lost their lives and a woman was injured due to heavy rains and flash floods in Jawzjan, provincial director for the disaster management authority Sayed Safatullah Safwan said.

Storms and floods had killed more than 70 people and injured about 50 others elsewhere in Afghanistan in April.

-Xinhua