TEHRAN (Iran News) – Unprecedented flash floods in Iran’s south and southeast provinces have hit 350 villages in recent days, damaging thousands of residential buildings, according to IRNA. Heavy rainfalls in the country’s south, which started on Thursday, have caused flash floods in Sistan and Baluchestan Province and caused damage to more than 20,000 residential […]
TEHRAN (Iran News) – Unprecedented flash floods in Iran’s south and southeast provinces have hit 350 villages in recent days, damaging thousands of residential buildings, according to IRNA.
Heavy rainfalls in the country’s south, which started on Thursday, have caused flash floods in Sistan and Baluchestan Province and caused damage to more than 20,000 residential buildings, Abbas-Ali Arjmandi, director-general of the provincial Crisis Management Center said on Sunday.
The flash floods have also blocked rural roads leading to more than 500 villages and closed schools, Arjmandi said, adding that six villages have been evacuated so far.
He said heavy rains in southern areas of the province triggered the sudden flooding, which have also caused blackouts in several villages in the southeastern province.
Floods in Kerman Province have also blocked roads between 363 villages in the province, Majid Saeidi, head of the provincial crisis management center said on Sunday. He added that nearly 100 villages have lost electricity following the flooding.
In the southern province of Hormozgan, four villages were evacuated in the city of Jask on Saturday to prevent possible casualties.
On March 19, heavy downpours began sweeping the country, with raging currents battering houses, washing away cars and killing people in a few provinces.
The rainfalls eventually caused rivers to burst their banks triggering the worst flooding in decades in 25 of the country’s 31 provinces.
According to estimates, the flooding caused an estimated $2.9 billion in damage to roads, bridges, homes and farmland. It affected 4,400 villages, damaged 14,000 kilometers of roads and destroyed more than 700 bridges.
Estimates by government agencies suggest that the floods have taken the lives of nearly 80 people and destroyed over 25,000 houses around the country.
- source : Iran Daily, Irannews
