Heavy rainfall and snowfall have broken a long dry spell in Afghanistan, but the sudden change in weather has brought devastation in its wake, leaving at least 17 people dead and 11 others injured in flash floods across several regions, officials said.
According to local authorities, one of the deadliest incidents occurred on Thursday in Kabkan district of western Herat province, where the roof of a house collapsed amid heavy rain. Five members of the same family, including two children, were killed in the incident, said Mohammad Yousaf Saeedi, spokesperson for the Herat governor, reports Al Jazeera.
Most of the casualties have been reported since Monday in flood-hit districts, as intense rainfall disrupted normal life in central, northern, southern and western parts of the country.
Mohammad Yousaf Hammad, spokesperson for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), said the extreme weather has caused widespread damage beyond the loss of life.
“The floods have destroyed homes, damaged roads and other infrastructure, killed livestock and affected around 1,800 families,” Hammad said, adding that both urban and rural communities – already struggling with poverty and limited resources – have been severely impacted.
ANDMA has deployed assessment teams to the worst-affected areas to evaluate losses and identify urgent needs. Surveys are still ongoing, and authorities expect the number of affected families to rise as more remote regions become accessible.
Footage circulating on social media highlighted the severity of the situation. One video posted on X showed a truck being swept away and overturned by fast-moving floodwaters on the Herat–Kandahar highway near Dasht-e Bakwa. Another clip captured passengers scrambling for safety after a bus was knocked over by a strong current.
Afghanistan is among the countries most exposed to extreme weather events in South Asia, alongside Pakistan and India. Seasonal rains frequently trigger flash floods, particularly in areas with weak drainage systems and fragile housing.
Experts say decades of war, widespread deforestation, poor infrastructure and the growing impact of climate change have significantly increased the country’s vulnerability to such disasters. In many rural areas, homes are built with mud and lack structural resilience, making them especially susceptible to collapse during heavy rain.
The latest floods come as Afghanistan continues to recover from other recent disasters. In August, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck near the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, killing more than 1,400 people. Rescue operations at that time were hampered by flash floods in Nangarhar province, near Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Meanwhile, the United Nations and international aid agencies have warned that Afghanistan is likely to remain one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises in 2026. On Tuesday, the UN and its partners launched a $1.7 billion appeal to support nearly 18 million Afghans in urgent need of food, shelter, healthcare and other essential assistance.
As extreme weather events become more frequent, aid groups stress that long-term investment in climate resilience and infrastructure will be critical to reducing future loss of life in the country.
