Unseasonably heavy rains have battered Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent days, killing more than 130 people in both countries, with authorities predicting more flooding and rain, and some experts pointing to climate change as the cause. are doing.

Flash floods and other weather-related incidents have killed at least 70 people and destroyed or damaged more than 2,600 homes in Afghanistan, said Disaster Management Ministry spokesperson Janan Sayek. At least 62 people were killed in the storms in neighboring Pakistan, which received almost twice the average rainfall for this time of year, Pakistani officials said.

Khyber Pakhtankhwa province, a region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan, appears to be the hardest hit. Flash floods and landslides caused by torrential rains damage homes and destroy infrastructure. Photos and videos from the state showed roads turning into torrents and homes and bridges washed away.

“The rains caused significant damage,” Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for the state disaster management department, said in a telephone interview. At least 33 people have died and 336 homes have been destroyed in the state over the past four days, it added.

Around midnight on Monday in the Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Akbar Zada ​​was hit hard by a rock that tumbled down from a nearby mountain in the rain, destroying the room in his home where his two sons were sleeping and leaving him with an eye injury. I woke up. A 14-year-old and a 16-year-old boy both died.

“It has been raining relentlessly for the past few years and now my sons are exposed to the rain,” Zada ​​said in a telephone interview.

The deluge in Afghanistan and Pakistan began as the storm hit the Gulf, pummeling the United Arab Emirates and Oman with record rainfall, killing at least 20 people in both countries. The storm in the United Arab Emirates was the heaviest rainfall in the region in 75 years.

Pakistan’s latest floods come just over two years after a devastating monsoon season hit the country in 2022, killing more than 1,700 people and affecting around 33 million people. The floods destroyed millions of acres of crops, caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage, and started an international debate about the environmental costs of global warming, which are borne disproportionately by poor countries.

This week’s storms served as an even more dire reminder of that cost. Thousands of people, mostly tourists, were stranded in the Swat Valley, a popular tourist destination, by landslides and washed-out roads caused by heavy rains, said Amjad Ali Khan, a local lawmaker who oversaw the rescue operation. At least 15 landslides have been reported in the area.

“To mitigate future climate change disasters, the state government has plans to build storage dams to manage water flow and curb deforestation to prevent soil erosion,” Dr. Khan said. said.

Heavy rains also triggered devastating flash floods that hit Pakistan’s Balochistan province, especially coastal areas, causing widespread damage to the seaside city of Gwadar.

Last month, Gwadar received an unusual amount of rainfall of more than 7 inches within 48 hours. The city of Gwadar, located in the arid region of southern Pakistan, has never experienced a major flood in recent memory, with most buildings in the city submerged by the rain.

On Thursday, people in Pakistan braced for more heavy rains as authorities issued another flood warning for early next week. Officials blamed unseasonably fast melting glaciers in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the upcoming floods.

These weather warnings also raise concerns that unseasonal rains will affect Pakistan’s wheat harvest, with the country’s monsoon season from June to September leading to further damage levels this year. This aroused concerns.

“This is exactly what we have been warning about,” said Muhammad Qasim, a professor of environmental science at the University of Swat. “Climate change is making weather patterns more erratic and extreme events such as heat waves, droughts and unpredictable monsoons becoming increasingly common.”

Safiullah Padshah Contributed to the report.