The death toll in Nuristan flash floods have reached at least 23, local Taliban officials said, adding that 15 bodies were recovered on Tuesday morning while more than 100 others are still missing.
The floods many areas in the eastern province, particularly Parun, the center of the province, on Monday, sweeping away homes, shops and vehicles.
The Taliban-run disaster management authority, the ANDMA, said 80 others were injured. It warned that the death toll is likely to rise as search operations continue.
Among those killed was the Taliban mayor of Parun, according to Faridun Samim, spokesman for the Taliban governor in Nuristan.
The ANDMA said 70 shops, 11 hotels and 7 homes have been destroyed.
Residents said the floods devastated the city’s central market, destroying livelihoods along with homes.
“Our relatives are gone, and everything we owned has been washed away,” said one resident whose family was affected by the flooding.
Another resident said the central market had been completely destroyed.
“The flood swept away all the shops and people’s property,” the resident said. “The losses are enormous.”
Samim said the disaster caused an estimated $35 million in economic losses.
Taliban officials said emergency teams had been deployed to affected areas but warned that continued rainfall could trigger additional flooding, complicating rescue efforts.
Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to flash floods, particularly during periods of intense seasonal rainfall. Poor infrastructure, mountainous terrain and limited disaster response capacity often magnify the impact of such disasters, especially in remote provinces like Nuristan.
