Climate News
Two weeks of rain, floods and landslides kill 148 in Afghanistan, with Nangarhar worst hit
Heavy rain that began on 26 March has turned into one of Afghanistan's worst flood emergencies in years. On 10 April India's public broadcaster News On AIR, citing Afghan disaster authorities, reported that 148 people had been killed and 216 injured over the past two weeks by heavy rain, floods and landslides. It said Nangarhar province in the east was among the worst-affected areas, with 24 killed and 33 injured in just two days, and that the United Nations counted more than 73,000 people affected.
The Hindi daily Amar Ujala, using IANS copy, added the UN's damage figures: more than 9,000 houses damaged and over 15,500 acres of farmland destroyed, with a warning of possible food shortages. It said 1,149 homes had been completely destroyed in Nangarhar alone, and that broken roads had cut links between Kabul and other provinces.
On the ground, the Afghan outlet Shamshad News spoke to residents in Nangarhar, where around 180 to 200 houses had been submerged in one area. Officials said joint teams were surveying the damage, and losses were also reported in Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan.
"I have been living here for about 15 years, but I have never seen such a strong flood." — Rahmuddin, Nangarhar resident, via Shamshad News
How each outlet framed it
- News On AIR — the national toll and the UN's count of people affected, with warnings of more extreme weather ahead.
- Amar Ujala — the scale of the damage: homes, farmland and the risk to food supplies.
- Shamshad News — residents' stories from Nangarhar and their call for a retaining wall along the riverbank.
What we don't know yet: how much the toll will rise. Weather authorities warned of more heavy rain, and figures from the disaster agency, the UN and local officials were still being updated.