Afghanistan flash flooding: Hundreds dead and missing

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Shopkeeper Nazer Mohammad ran home as soon as he heard about flash floods crashing into the outskirts of a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan. By the time he got there, there was nothing left, including his family of five.

“Everything happened just all of a sudden. I came home, but there was no home there, instead I saw all the neighborhood covered by mud and water,” said Mohammad. 48. He said that he buried his wife and two sons aged 15 and 8 years, but he’s still looking for two daughters, who are around 6 and 11 years old.

The U.N. food agency estimated that unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have left more than 300 people dead and over 1,000 houses destroyed, most of them in the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of the deluges Friday.

Mohammad said Sunday that he found the bodies of his wife and two sons late Friday night on the outskirt of Puli Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province.