Rescuers deliver aid to Afghan victims

Relief workers are battling to deliver food and medical supplies to Afghan families affected by flash floods in a remote northern district.

According to AFP, the devastating floods, which washed away hundreds of homes in the Gozar Gahe Noor district and forced thousands to escape to mountaintops, came after torrential rains hit the province of Baghlan.

Rescue operations were underway on Sunday as officials said the Afghan army is making an all-out effort to deliver aid to the affected families.

Baghlan police spokesman Jawed Basharat said about the floods “People have lost everything they had — houses, property, villages, agricultural fields, cattle.”

Authorities added that Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry has also sent two helicopters to deliver aid packages to the area because the floods have destroyed roads and mountain passes.

“Some nine kilometers of roads were destroyed by floodwaters, so officials are trying to deliver aid by air,” said Obaidullah Ramin, an MP from the province.

Meanwhile, the governor of Baghlan, Sultan Mohammad Ebadi, described the extent of the disaster, which has left 150 people dead so far, as “massive.”