Flash floods kill at least 50 people in western Afghanistan, damage around 2,000 houses

Fresh flash floods again wreaked havoc in Afghanistan as at least 50 people were killed in the western region, local police said on Saturday (May 18) as per the news agencies.

In a statement, Ghor police spokesman Abdul Rahman Badri said that the floods on Friday also destroyed about 2,000 houses, and damaged thousands more homes and businesses.

Meanwhile, Mawlawi Abdul Hai Zaeem, who is the head of the information department for the central Ghor province, told the news agency Reuters that there was no information about how many people were injured.

"Fifty residents of Ghor province were killed by the floods on Friday and a number of others are missing," Badri said.

"These terrible floods have also killed thousands of cattle... They have destroyed hundreds of hectares of agricultural land, hundreds of bridges and culverts, and destroyed thousands of trees," he added.

This comes in the backdrop of last week's floods which killed over 300 and injured more than 1,600 people in northern Afghanistan, with survivors still searching for missing relatives.

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The country has experienced above-average rainfall this spring.

According to Obaidullah Muradian, who is the head of the province's disaster management department, the flooding has caused an "emergency situation".

He said that the floods hit several districts in the province, including the capital Chaghcharan, where the streets "are full of mud".

He also said that victims were in need of shelter, food and water amid a "really concerning" situation.

(With inputs from agencies)