‘We have lost everything’: extreme rainfall across Asia brings flash floods and typhoons

Bangladesh is one of several countries in the region to experience heavy rains and flash floods. Photograph: Rayhan Ahmed/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock From Afghanistan to Taiwan, unprecedented deluge highlights devastating impact of climate breakdown By Natasha May and Jonathan Watts “It rained for 10 days and 10 nights, non-stop – I’d never seen anything like it,” says Anar Gul, a construction worker who lives in the remote district of Dur Baba in eastern Afghanistan . The houses in his village are built from stone and mud, which makes them extremely vulnerable to heavy rains. After days of rain, Gul’s kitchen collapsed and his neighbour, Sayed Afsar Sadat, saw a large part of his house completely destroyed. “Rains like this are coming heavier and earlier each year,” says Sadat. “They are destroying the roads and washing away our crops. It’s impacting us directly.” View image in fullscreen Anar Gul, who lives in a remote mountain village in the Dur Baba district of eastern Afghanistan, says he has never seen rain like it. Photograph: IFRC/Mark South. Last week, torrential rains and flash floods wiped out villages and towns in Afghanistan, leaving at least 31 people dead and hundreds missing. It’s been a similar picture in neighbouring countries, with the monsoon rains sparking chaos across the region. India, Bangladesh and Pakistan have all seen erratic, sudden heavy dumps of water. Jesmin Akter lived in the city of Chattogram, on the south-eastern coast of Bangladesh, which received a record 412.3mm of rainfall in 24 hours in early July, leading to the flash flood that swept through the Banshkhali district where they live. She says her children “understand that we are in a very bad situation”. Overnight the rains took the little they had; their poultry died, their paddy field flooded, their house collapsed and all their belongings in it – children’s books, school bags, toys, clothes, kitchen items – ruined. Akter carried her six children through chest-deep water to her mother’s house. There they stayed in the crowded conditions for over a week until the water receded. View image in fullscreen Residents and rescue workers inspect buildings damaged by heavy flooding in the eastern province of Nuristan, Afghanistan. Photograph: Wahidullah Kakar/AP “We have lost everything,” Akter said. Their house beside the canal was not in a good condition, but a few months ago the family had repaired it. “Now the flood has destroyed it again. We have no money. We are surviving on the food assistance we receive from different organisations.” They have gone back to the ruins of their home, but her children sleep on plastic sheets laid on the wet floor and she worries for their safety, especially that the unsanitary conditions will lead to disease. Her daughter has developed a fever. As wildfires rage across Europe and North America, the unprecedented rains continue elsewhere. While South Korea swings between heatwave and downpour, in Japan and Vietnam torrential