Flash floods kill 50 in one day in north Afghanistan

Kabul: At least 50 people, mainly women and children, were killed Friday in flash flooding that ripped through northern Afghanistan, official said, in...

Kabul: At least 50 people, mainly women and children, were killed Friday in flash flooding that ripped through northern Afghanistan, official said, in a country highly vulnerable to climate change.

A disaster management official in the northern province of Baghlan said heavy seasonal rains sparked the flooding, and residents were unprepared for the sudden rush of water.

"So far, the number of dead is 50 as per the hospital authorities of Baghlan-e-Markazi district," said Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of the provincial natural disaster management department, adding the toll could rise.

Emergency personnel were "searching for any possible victims under the mud and rubble, with the help of security forces from the national army and police", Hamdard told AFP late Friday.

"The weather is very gloomy right now and it might pour again," he added.