Heavy rain and flooding kills 82 across India, Pakistan and Afghanistan


July 23 (Reuters) - At least 82 ⁠people have died after heavy rains across northeastern India, Pakistan ⁠and Afghanistan this week, authorities said, as flooding caused widespread ‌damage to farmland, infrastructure and public facilities.

• At least 10 people have died in floods in India's northeastern state of Assam over the last 24 hours, in what authorities said ​was "unprecedented devastation", taking the total death toll during ⁠the week to 36.

• More ⁠than 650,000 people have been affected by heavy rainfall across 11 districts ⁠of ‌Assam, the state's disaster management authority said in a bulletin on Wednesday.

• The floods in Assam were primarily caused by very ⁠heavy rainfall in its neighbouring state of Nagaland between ​July 18 and 20, ‌resulting in unusually high river flows, a state government report said.

• ⁠Assam, home ​to the Brahmaputra, one of the world's largest rivers, sees damage from the increased flow of water nearly every year during monsoons.

• At least 46 people ⁠have been killed and at least 100 injured ​in floods across Afghanistan's northeastern province of Nuristan and Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province over the last 72 hours, disaster management authorities in both countries said.

• "The ⁠floods swept away houses and hotels. Everything is gone. It is complete devastation. Machinery is being used to rescue those who are still trapped," Mujib ur Rahman, a resident of Nuristan's provincial capital, told Reuters.

• Despite contributing ​little to global emissions, Afghanistan and Pakistan are ⁠among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with intensifying floods, droughts, glacier ​melt and water shortages putting millions at ‌risk, experts say.

(Reporting by Tora Agarwala in ​Guwahati, Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Writing by Shanima Aniyeri; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

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