Heavy rains ravage Afghanistan, leaving 117 missing or dead

Afghanistan faces yet another brutal spell of extreme weather, with floods and landslides now linked to 110 deaths and 11 more people unaccounted for. Over two weeks, relentless rain has turned streets into rivers, buried homes under mud, and cut off entire towns. Just in the last day, floods took 11 lives and hurt six others, while seven more were swept away never to be seen again. The Disaster Management Authority paints a grim picture: nearly a thousand homes vanished entirely, over four thousand partially damaged, and more than three hundred kilometers of roads turned to rubble. Farmland and water sources didn’t escape either—hundreds of families now struggle without stable food or clean water.Emergency teams scrambled Monday to airlift two trapped villagers in Herat, using a military chopper as floodwater turned roads into traps. With weather alerts for tornadoes and flash floods covering almost the whole country, authorities urge people to avoid riverbanks and steep slopes. Stories of stranded travelers pop up daily. Two key highways, lifelines between provinces, have been blocked for days—one major road to Jalalabad shut since last Thursday, another from Jalalabad to Kunar and Nuristan closed since Sunday under tons of fallen rock. Detours stretch journeys to hours instead of minutes, leaving communities isolated and supplies delayed. This crisis isn’t new. Each year, melting snow and sudden storms unleash floods that kill dozens or even hundreds at once. In spring alone this year, more than 300 Afghans lost their lives to similar disasters. The pattern repeats too often—fragile homes, worn-down roads, and little warning combine into tragedy. Families lose everything in a single night, while relief arrives slowly in rugged terrain. In a country where livelihoods depend on agriculture, ruined fields mean hunger months ahead. Questions linger: Why do communities keep rebuilding in flood zones? Could better drainage or warning systems cut these grim tallies? As skies stay threatening, answers matter more than ever.