KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 10 people, including several children, were killed by flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, Taliban officials said Tuesday.
In Kandahar, the Taliban’s disaster management office reported that three girls drowned in a sudden flood in the Shorandam area of the province’s fifth district. A fourth child also died in the same area.
Meanwhile, in Helmand, a house collapsed in the Shahzadi area of Sangin district, killing two children, according to Hafiz Rasheed Helmandi, the Taliban’s director of information and culture in the province.
In another incident, six people were injured when lightning struck a house in the Nawzad Rud area of Gereshk district, Helmandi said.
The latest fatalities add to the rising death toll from severe weather in Afghanistan. Last week, 21 people, including women and children, were killed in flash floods in the western province of Farah.
Heavy rains and extreme weather have increasingly devastated parts of Afghanistan in recent months, raising concerns over the country’s preparedness for natural disasters.
