KABUL: Afghan village residents tried desperately after Flash flood swept the narrow valley in the Taliban-controlled area, killing at least 40 people and destroyed dozens of houses during the early hours of Thursday morning, officials said.
Getting reliable information is difficult, according to Afghan officials, because the Kamdesh district in the eastern province of the Nuristan mountains has fallen under the control of the Taliban and has poor telecommunications.
“According to the initial information of 60 houses were destroyed and around 100 people were lost,” said Samiullah Zarbi, spokesman for the State Disaster Management Ministry.
The villagers have restored some of the forty bodies, both from water or buried under the rubble of their house, Saagullah Paydan Zoy, the Head of the Provincial Council, told Reuters.
Taliban said they would allow humanitarian agencies safe access to the area.
“Unfortunately half of the village, which has more than 100 houses, was abolished by great flood last night and unfortunately more than 100 people were dead or lost,” Taliban spokesman Zaibullah Mujahid told Reuters.
He said the Taliban fighters helped villagers looking for missing people.
Afghanistan always struggles to provide emergency services in distant and isolated areas such as Nuristan.
However, the challenge has become more acute because the coronavirus pandemic and committing violence because the Taliban militants attacked government forces to leave the battle alone, with the last US-led foreign forces preparing to leave next month.