Heavy rain, floods kill 22 people in Afghanistan

Heavy rain that triggered severe flooding and caused buildings to collapse has killed 22 people and injured 32 in Afghanistan over the last two days, the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Monday, as it warned of continued risk due to bad weather.

Most of the deaths were reported from the central and eastern provinces of the war-shattered South Asian nation, including Parwan, Maidan Wardak, Daykundi and Logar, where torrential rain triggered flash floods and caused houses to collapse in rural and mountainous regions, the authority said.

Conditions remained "unstable" in parts of the country on Monday, with continued risk of further rain and flooding in some areas, it said.

"Twenty-two people were killed, 32 injured and 241 houses damaged in flooding and other weather-related incidents across 13 provinces over the past two days," an NDMA official, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters.

Afghanistan is prone to natural disasters, and the United Nations lists it among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

With international aid, which formed the backbone of the government's finances, slashed since the Taliban seized power in 2021, the country has been struggling to cope.

A United Nations Development Programme report in November said earthquakes, floods, and drought had destroyed 8,000 homes in Afghanistan in 2025 and strained public services "beyond their limits".