Flash floods claim 10 lives in Afghanistan's Baghlan province

KABUL, May 22 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 individuals, including women and children, have perished in overnight flash floods that swept through multiple districts of northern Afghanistan's Baghlan province, local media outlet Tolo news reported on Friday.

The downpours destroyed more than 100 residential houses and inundated thousands of acres of agricultural land, delivering a severe blow to the province's already fragile rural economy, the media quoted Hedayatullah Hamdard, head of the provincial disaster management authority, as saying.

In a separate weather-related disaster, three people died and six others sustained injuries when violent windstorms swept through southern Kandahar province on Wednesday night.

Parts of Afghanistan have been battered by heavy rainfall, windstorms, thunder, and lightning over the past several days, prompting the country's meteorological department to issue warnings of continued rain in the coming days and raising serious concerns about further flooding in vulnerable regions. Enditem