Rainstorms kill more than 130 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Pakistani officials have warned of further flooding and heavy rains next week, stoking fears of a particularly brutal monsoon to come. /p>

A deluge of unseasonably heavy rains hit Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent days, killing more than 130 people in both countries, with authorities forecasting more flooding and rainfall, with some experts pointing the finger at climate change as the cause.

In Afghanistan, at least 70 people have been killed in flash floods and other weather-related incidents, while more than 2,600 homes have been destroyed or damaged, according to Mullah Janan. Sayeq, spokesperson for the Ministry of Disaster Management. At least 62 people have died in storms in neighboring Pakistan, which has been hit by rainfall almost twice the average for this time of year, according to Pakistani authorities.

The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a Pakistani region bordering Afghanistan, appears to be the hardest hit. Flash floods and landslides caused by torrential rains damaged homes and destroyed infrastructure. Photos and videos from the province show roads turned into raging rivers, houses and bridges washed away.

“The rains caused significant damage,” said Bilal Faizi, spokesperson for the provincial disaster management authority, said in a telephone interview. He added that at least 33 people had died in the province over the past four days and 336 houses had been destroyed.

Around midnight Monday in the Valley of Swat, in Khyber Province of Pakhtunkhwa, Akbar Zada ​​woke up to thunder after a boulder fell from a nearby mountain in the rain and destroyed a room in his house where two of his sons were sleeping. The boys, aged 14 and 16, were both killed.

“The rain has been incessant for the past few years, and now it has washed away my sons,” Mr. Zada ​​said in a message. telephone interview.

The map locates the city of Peshawar and the Swat Valley district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of northern Pakistan. It also locates the Pakistani coastal town of Gwadar, in the southwestern province of Balochistan. Afghanistan is also represented, with Nangarhar province, east of Kabul and west of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

SWAT

VALLEY

Kabul

NANGARHAR

Peshawar

AFGHANISTAN

KHYBER-

PAKHTUNKHWA