More than 200 dead in Afghanistan flash floods: UN

More than 200 people were killed and thousands of houses were destroyed ordamaged in Baghlan province when heavy rains on Friday sparked massiveflooding, the UN's International Organization for Migration told AFP.
In Baghlani Jadid district alone, up to 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyedand "more than 100 people died", an IOM emergency response lead said, citingfigures from the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority.
Taliban government officials said 62 people had died as of Friday night.
Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said "hundreds of our fellow citizens havesuccumbed to these calamitous floods" in a statement on X, formerly Twitter,on Saturday, without differentiating the numbers of dead and injured, thoughhe told AFP dozens had been killed.
Multiple provinces across Afghanistan saw flash flooding, with officials innorthern Takhar province reporting 20 dead on Saturday.
Rains on Friday also caused heavy damage in northeastern Badakhshan province,central Ghor province and western Herat, officials said.
Emergency personnel have been deployed to the affected areas and were rushingto rescue injured and stranded people, the defence ministry said.
Afghanistan -- which had a relatively dry winter, making it more difficultfor the soil to absorb rainfall -- is highly vulnerable to climate change, reports BSS.
The nation, ravaged by four decades of war, is one of the poorest in theworld and, according to scientists, one of the worst prepared to face theconsequences of global warming.