KABUL, July 20 (Reuters) – At least 20 people were killed in flash floods in northeastern Afghanistan on Monday, the Taliban-run government said.
The death toll was expected to rise, with 100 people still missing on Monday night.
Most of the damage was reported from Parun, the capital of Nuristan, the Taliban’s National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement. At least 80 people were injured, according to the authority.
Taliban officials said Monday evening that they had launched a search and rescue operation in the remote province on the Afghan-Pakistani border. Rescuers feared “severe financial and human losses,” the National Disaster Management Authority said.
Afghanistan is among the nations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which has made some parts of the country more drought-prone and exposed others to more rainfall.
Deforestation in Nuristan and other provinces has further worsened flash floods in recent decades because it has slowed the absorption of rainwater into the soil.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Sayed Hassib in Kabul, writing by Rick Noack; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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