Heavy rains have killed at least 40 people and injured nearly 350 in eastern Afghanistan, Taliban officials said.
Among the dead from Monday’s storm were five people from the same family whose roof collapsed on their home in Suruk Lod area, provincial spokesman Sedikullah Quraishi said.
Four other family members were also injured.
Health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman Amar said 347 injured people were taken to Nangarhar provincial regional hospital for treatment from Jalalabad, the provincial capital, and nearby districts.
Hundreds of people were taken to hospital in the city of Jalalabad. (AP)
Many areas were left without power and communications were restricted in the city of Jalalabad. The extent of the damage was still being assessed.
Abdul Wali, 43, said most of the damage happened within an hour. “The wind was so strong that it blew everything into the air, and then it started raining heavily,” he said. His four-year-old daughter suffered minor injuries.
Aid groups rushed in supplies and mobile teams.
Salma Ben Aissa, the International Rescue Committee’s representative in Afghanistan, said the committee was carrying out assessments and providing emergency medical services.
The storm caused landslides and destroyed homes across the region. (AP)
“The sad reality is that without a significant increase in support from donors and the international community, many more people will lose their lives.”
According to the World Food Programme, unusually heavy rains in May killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of homes, mainly in the northern province of Baghlan.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s official Bakhtar news agency reported that at least 17 people were killed and 34 injured when a bus overturned on the main road connecting Kabul and Balkh in the northern Baghlan province on Tuesday morning.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but poor road conditions and careless driving are often cited as reasons for such accidents in the country.
