Over 100 Missing As Devastating Floods Sweep Through Afghanistan
More than 100 people are still unaccounted for after severe flooding swept through Afghanistan’s Nuristan province on Monday, leaving parts of the provincial capital, Parun, badly damaged.
The flooding has also claimed lives, injured dozens and destroyed homes, businesses and public facilities, according to disaster officials and the Governor’s office.
Afghanistan’s disaster management agency, ANDMA, said 20 bodies had been recovered and more than 80 people injured in Parun and other parts of Nuristan, a province bordering Pakistan.
The Governor’s office said the Mayor of Parun and several government employees were among those missing.
However, Feraidon Samim, spokesman for the Nuristan Governor, said nine bodies had been recovered.
Both the Governor’s spokesman and the disaster agency confirmed that more than 100 people remained missing.
The disaster struck the remote northeastern province on Monday, July 20, 2026, with the floodwaters causing widespread destruction in Parun.
Ashiqullah Safi, head of Shpoul, a non-governmental organisation in the town, told AFP that the flooding had “completely destroyed the municipality,” along with hotels and dozens of shops.
He said residents had been searching for victims without proper equipment after the floodwaters deposited huge boulders across parts of the town.
AFP journalists who visited the remote northeastern area last month reported that a market, shops and other buildings had been built close to the riverside in Parun.
The head of Afghanistan’s environmental protection agency, Mawlavi Mati-ul-Haq Khalis, said earlier this month that flooding had increased across the country.
He said environmental problems had “severely affected the Afghan people and have contributed to a humanitarian crisis in the country.”
Categories: World News, Disaster, Afghanistan
Tags: Afghanistan, Nuristan, Parun, Flood, Disaster, ANDMA, AFP, Natural Disaster, Missing Persons, Humanitarian Crisis
Sources:
ANDMA
Nuristan Governor’s Office
AFP
— Atinuke Otedola and her Editorial Team