At least 50 people, “most of them women and children,” died on Friday due to flash floods in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, according to a local official.

Hidayatullah Hamdard, head of the regional authority in charge of managing natural disasters, told Agence France-Presse: “The toll so far is fifty dead, according to the hospital in Baghlan-Markazi province, and it may rise.”

He added: "The monsoon rains caused flash floods, and people, who were unable to prepare, did not succeed in saving themselves, and that is why we are witnessing such losses."

A warming planet threatens more infectious diseases

According to the official, the rescue teams are “looking to see if there are any victims stuck in the mud or under the rubble.”

Since mid-April, floods have killed about 100 people in ten states in the country, and no region has been spared, according to the authorities.

Waters also flooded vast agricultural areas in a country where 80% of the population of more than 40 million people depend on agriculture for their survival.

Afghanistan witnessed a very dry winter and suffers from climatic disturbances.

Experts confirm that the country, which has been torn by war for four decades, is among the poorest countries in the world and the least prepared to face the consequences of climate change.