Intense snow, rain kills 60 Afghans

About 1,645 houses have been totally or partially ruined

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — At least 60 people have been killed by heavy rain and snow in Afghanistan over the past three weeks, the government’s disaster ministry said Wednesday.

Afghanistan has been parched by an unusually dry winter, but the end of the season is normally a time when deadly bad weather — particularly floods — batter communities.

“Because of the snow and rains unfortunately 60 compatriots have been martyred and 23 people injured” since 20 February, ministry spokesperson Janan Sayeq said in a video statement.

About 1,645 houses have been totally or partially ruined and nearly 178,000 livestock killed, he added.

Since the collapse of the United States-backed government and the return of the Taliban, foreign aid to Afghanistan has shrunk dramatically, undermining the already impoverished nation’s ability to respond to disasters.

Western Herat province — still reeling from a succession of devastating earthquakes in October — has been hit by flash floods after heavy rain since Monday evening.

Five members of the same family were killed Tuesday when the roof of their home collapsed in the provincial capital of Herat city, disaster management official Abdul Zaher Noorzai told reporters.

Provisional data showed about 250 houses had been destroyed and vast tracts of farmland flooded, he added, saying aid should begin arriving on Thursday.

Like many other houses in the area, the one that caved-in on the five relatives had been damaged in a series of earthquakes five months ago, local imam Naqibullah told Agence France-Presse.