KABUL: Flash floods caused by torrential rain have so far killed 31 people since Friday, with more than 40 people missing.

Shafiullah Rahimi, spokesman for the disaster management ministry, said extensive damage had been caused to property and farmland.

Twenty-six of the deaths occurred in Jalrez district of Maidan Wardak province, 46 kilometres east of Kabul, after the rain washed away hundreds of houses, most of them built of earth.

Four more people died in Kabul, and a total of over 70 were injured in both the districts.

Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said urgent aid was being rushed to the main disaster zone in Jalrez district.

Mujahid issued a condolence message, calling on aid groups and the Kabul administration to help the bereaved families.

Although Afghanistan lies on the western edge of the monsoon footprint, flash floods happen regularly during the wet season as heavy rain courses down dry riverbeds.

Rahimi, the disaster ministry spokesman, told a presser that 604 houses had been fully or partially damaged and hundreds of acres of agricultural land and orchards destroyed in Jalrez since Friday.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2023