The people of Charikar, the capital of the Parwan province, have suffered immense financial losses due to the recent floods. Although some parts of the city were not affected, the economic damage caused by the floods is still significant. Shopkeepers and street vendors in the city have had to bear the brunt of the expenses incurred due to the destruction. Business owners in Charikar have complained that the city‘s canals are too narrow, leading to frequent flooding and the death of hundreds of Afghans due to the lack of proper canals. The residents of Charikar have accused government workers of neglecting to clean the drains and disregarding the requests of the business owners. Despite this, the shopkeepers in Charikar are still demanding compensation from the provincial authorities.
During a conversation with Hasht–e–Subh, Hasibullah, a shopkeeper in Charikar, asserted that the floods which occurred on Tuesday, March 28, had inundated the stores‘ basements. Hasibullah went on to explain that the floods had taken the shopkeepers in the municipal underground market in Charikar city by surprise, resulting in the majority of financial losses being borne by them. He stated, “The torrential floods happened in the morning. The city and some other areas of Parwan were quickly overwhelmed once the flood began. We had just started to open our stores but were unable to due to the warehouses being filled with water.”
Hassib further stated that, following the floods, the shopkeepers of Charikar have lost thousands of Afghanis due to the Taliban‘s municipality failing to clean the drains of Charikar city, which has resulted in flooding due to the gutters‘ inadequate standards and narrowness.
Sharif, a pharmacist in Charikar, stated that they had requested the local municipality to address their issues and open the water canals inside the city multiple times, but they had been ignored. He went on to say that the current flood had caused damage to all of their pharmacies, with water surrounding all the stores in Charikar city and ruining all the assets in the grocery warehouses. He concluded that the municipality must bear the costs.
Sources from Parwan Province have reported that flooding has caused damage to homes, bridges, and culverts in multiple areas, including the Kabul–Parwan roads, which have been shut down for several hours. The Taliban have not released any data on the matter.
Many residents of Shakardara district in the north of Kabul have reported that farmers in the district have experienced significant financial losses as a result of the rainstorm in the area.
Two farmers from Shakardara district informed Hasht–e–Subh that the majority of the district‘s fruits had been destroyed by severe rainstorms, and that the farmers require assistance from relief agencies.
Heavy rainstorms since last week have caused severe flooding in the provinces of Farah, Faryab, Balkh, Uruzgan, Kunar, Nuristan, Laghman, Baghlan, Samangan, Parwan, Kunduz, Panjshir, Maidan Wardak, Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunar, Paktika, Kabul, Paktia, Khost, Helmand, and Nimroz, resulting in significant financial and human losses throughout the country.
The Ministry for Natural Disaster Management of the Taliban recently reported that, over the past 8 days, 10 people have died and 73 have been injured due to natural disasters in 23 provinces of Afghanistan. Shafiullah Rahimi, spokesman for the Ministry for Disaster Management of the Taliban, informed the media that more than 1,700 houses and over 22,000 acres of agricultural land have been destroyed as a result of the recent natural disasters.
Over 400 houses in the Mirzaie district of Balkh province have been destroyed due to recent flooding. It is noteworthy that the Taliban Meteorological Department had issued warnings about heavy rains and the potential for flooding in 26 provinces across the country.
