Heavy rain, floods kill 45 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan

KABUL – Heavy rain that triggered severe flooding and caused buildings to collapse has killed 45 people and injured 74 in Afghanistan over the last five days, the authorities said on March 30, with Kabul also warning of continued risks from 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 landslides, completely destroying 130 homes,the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.

Conditions remained “unstable” in parts of the country on March 30, with continued risk of further rain and flooding in some areas, it said.

“In total, 1,140 families have been affected,” NDMA said in a statement.

In Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which shares a border with Afghanistan, at least 17 people, including 14 children, were killed and 25 injured as heavy rainfall caused roofs and walls of houses to collapse, the province’s disaster management authority said.

The United Nations lists both Pakistan and Afghanistan among the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change. A fierce monsoon season in 2025 caused devastation in Pakistan, killing almost 1,000 people and destroying crops, livestock and homes.

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”.

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