KABUL: At least 35 people were killed and 230 injured on Monday after heavy rain in eastern Afghanistan, a local official said.

“On Monday evening, rain caused by thunderstorms killed 35 people and injured 230 others in Jalalabad and certain districts of Nangarhar” province, Quraishi Badloon, head of the department of information and culture, said.

The casualties were caused by heavy storms and rains that collapsed trees, walls and roofs of people’s houses, Badloon said. “There is a possibility that casualties might rise,” he went on, adding that the wounded as well as victims’ bodies were brought to Nangarhar regional hospital and Fatima-tul-Zahra hospital.

Images shared by Badloon’s department showed medical personnel wearing white and blue uniforms giving treatment to the wounded. “We share the grief of the families of the victims,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban government.

“The relevant institutions of the Islamic Emirate have been directed to go to the affected areas as soon as possible,” Mujahid wrote on X, adding they would provide shelter, food and medicine to displaced families.

The tragedy comes after flash floods killed hundreds of people in Afghanistan in May and swamped agricultural lands in the country, where 80 per cent of the population depends on farming to survive.

Among the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change. This year, it saw an unusually wet spring after an extremely dry winter.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2024