TEHRAN — At least eight people have been killed in
flash flooding in
Iran's south due to heavy rains expected to last until later
this week, state media reported on Tuesday.
اضافة اعلان
"Following the floods and rains of the past few days in
the southern regions of the country, we have seen an increase in casualties and
deaths," spokesman for the national rescue service Mojtaba Khaledi said,
quoted by state news agency IRNA.
(Photo: ICRS/AFP)
"So far eight people have died and two are still
missing," Khaledi said, adding that 14 others had been injured.
Five of the deaths occurred in Fars province, local crisis
management official Rahim Azadi told the state news agency.
A local official had said Monday that at least two people
were killed in flash flooding in the province.
Heavy rain damaged "agriculture, infrastructure, urban
and rural housing", Azadi said.
Iran's Red Crescent has provided "emergency
accommodation for more than 3,000 people, and over 20,000 have received relief
assistance", its head of rescue and emergency operations Mehdi Valipour
told state television.
"Houses have been flooded and infrastructure such as
roads and communication systems have been damaged," he said, adding that
more than 500 teams were providing assistance in parts of the country's south
and east.
Pictures published by the Red Crescent showed its personnel
setting up tents in sports halls and assisting cars trapped on flooded roads or
stuck in snow-covered mountain areas.
Relief operations were underway in 87 cities across more
than half of Iran's 31 provinces, it added.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has asked local authorities
in Fars, Hormozgan, Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces to use "all
their resources and capacities" to aid residents, IRNA reported.
President
Ebrahim Raisi instructed Energy Minister Ali Akbar
Mehrabian to inspect flood-hit areas in Sistan-Baluchestan and Hormozgan
provinces, it added.
The weather system is expected to last until Friday, an
official from Iran's meteorological agency told state television.
Bad weather has affected not only southern Iran but also
Arab countries in the Gulf in recent days, with several issuing weather
warnings.
Torrential rainfall has hit the UAE, including Dubai and Abu
Dhabi, and caused widespread flooding in the region.
Authorities in Oman reported heavy rainfall on Tuesday,
calling on citizens to avoid heading to valleys and beaches due to rising water
levels, the official Oman News Agency reported.
Omani police closed several roads, including a highway in
the capital Muscat, due to a significant "water accumulation", it
added.
The education ministry suspended classes and exams in most
parts of the sultanate.
Largely arid, Iran has endured repeated droughts over the
past decade, but also regular floods.
In 2019, heavy flooding in the country's south left at least
76 people dead and caused damage estimated at more than $2 billion.
Scientists say climate change amplifies droughts and that
their intensity and frequency in turn threaten food security.
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