Heavy rain dampens search for dozens missing in Afghanistan flood

PARUN: Heavy rain and warnings of further flooding dampened the search Tuesday for dozens of residents missing in eastern Afghanistan, after a major deluge smashed through one province killing at least 23 people.

Around 100 people are unaccounted for, the national disaster agency and the provincial governor’s office said, also updating the death toll from Monday’s flood.

While dozens of rescuers searched for the missing in Parun, the capital of Nuristan province, an AFP journalist heard two distant gunshots which people upstream fired to warn of more incoming flooding.

Farid Gul Zaheer, a 34-year-old pharmacist, said he had “never witnessed such a dangerous flood”.

“It felt like there was an earthquake, and I heard children and people screaming,” he told AFP of Monday’s flood, after getting injured while trying to flee up the mountain.

Toiling under heavy rain, rescuers used their bare hands and wooden poles to search for the missing, while a bulldozer was of limited use in clearing masses of debris.

Those killed included Parun Mayor Sayed Ahmad Arhabi, the Nuristan governor’s office said.

Describing a “tragic and serious incident”, Governor Zain-ul-Abidin Abid vowed all bodies would be recovered by Tuesday evening.

Zakirullah Zaki, manager of the Spogmai Hotel, said it felt like “an act of God struck us”.

“The rest of the hotels, markets, and shops were completely destroyed,” the 29-year-old told AFP.

The Spogmai was still standing, surrounded by destruction, and the manager’s missing younger brother was found.

‘Traumatised’

Juma Khan Nayel, communications chief for the Afghan Red Crescent Society, said the water rose to unprecedented levels.

They have deployed dozens of volunteers who are working by hand, using shovels.

“Right now, urgently, we are supplying some food,” water and tents for those whose homes have been destroyed, he told AFP.

Afghanistan’s defence ministry said the military had also been deployed to the area to support the relief effort, while the United Nations said it was assessing the disaster.

Zaheer, the pharmacist, said he had “lost everything”.

“Everyone is traumatised, they didn’t sleep all night,” he said.

With further rain and storms forecast in multiple provinces including Nuristan, police officers in Parun warned people to stay away from the river.

The weather has also affected neighbouring Pakistan, where 12 people were killed according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial disaster agency.

More than 200 people were killed in flooding and rain that hit Afghanistan and Pakistan between March and April.

Afghanistan is particularly vulnerable to climate change and flooding has increased, according to the head of the country’s environmental protection agency.

Environmental problems “have severely affected the Afghan people and have contributed to a humanitarian crisis in the country”, Mawlavi Mati-ul-Haq Khalis said this month.