Heraldo de Madrid - Rain, storms kill 121 in Afghanistan and Pakistan in two weeks

Stormy weather has brought rain sweeping across Afghanistan since late March, causing floods, landslides, and hitting homes and crops.

"Since March 26 till today, 77 people have been killed and 137 wounded across the country because of the floods and rains," Afghanistan's disaster management authority (ANDMA) spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Hammad told AFP on Saturday.

The spokesman added that 26 people were killed and 48 were wounded across the country in the past 48 hours due to rains, floods, landslides and lightning.

Across the border in Pakistan, 44 people were killed following heavy rains in the last weeks, officials said.

At least 32 people died in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since March 25 and 12 in southwestern Balochistan since March 20, the provincial disaster management authorities told AFP.

Afghanistan's latest casualties include a child who drowned in a flash flood in southeastern Ghazni on Saturday morning while he was busy playing with other children, provincial police said.

Two more children also drowned in different districts of the same province.

That came hours after three people died in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, when the roof of their house collapsed due to rains, the provincial disaster management authority said.

- Damage -

ANDMA spokesman Hammad said rainfall since the start of spring "can strengthen the underground sources of water and give growth to the agriculture sector".

But he said it can also cause human suffering and financial loss.

In western Herat province, farmer Abdul Rahim Taimori said: "We don't remember such a flood happening before. It has caused us a lot of damage.

"It has destroyed the crops of people, their homes. If it continues like this then we would have to leave our homes," the 45-year-old told AFP.

But relocating is unaffordable for many.

"Where shall we go? We are forced to stay," said Majal Niazi, a 45-year-old farmer who lives in a one-room house with his family.

The rain has also led to several road closures, with Kabul police reporting the partial closure Friday of the road between the capital and the city of Jalalabad.

Afghanistan's disaster management authority renewed its warning to people to stay away from "rivers and flooded streams, and follow the weather forecast seriously".

The latest casualties follow more than 60 people being killed in snow and heavy rain that hit Afghanistan in January.

Afghanistan frequently experiences deadly floods, landslides and storms, particularly in remote areas with fragile infrastructure.

Among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is spurring extreme weather.

"It was drought before and now we have these rains, both are a danger," said Abdul Sattar, a 40-year-old farmer in Herat.

strs-la-sma-ash/rsc/iw/phz/ane

C.Valero--HdM