News / Society

15 dead in fresh heavy flooding across Iran

Thursday, 12 November 2015 4:23 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 12 November 2015 4:19 PM ]

The damage caused by flash floods in the city of Lamerd in the southern Fars Province, November 12, 2015. (Mehr News Agency photo)

Floods cause by unprecedented rainfall across Iran have left at least 15 people dead, Iranian media say.

According to reports on Thursday, 13 people were confirmed dead after flash floods, triggered by torrential rains, hit various areas in the southernmost province of Hormozgan.

The provincial governor, Jasem Jaderi, said the fatalities included a family of five who were driving in a car, and another one who died in a separate incident in the town of Rudan, about 100 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Bandar Abbas. One person was also killed in the nearby town of Minab while another lost his life in Bandar Abbas.

He said another five drowned while sailing a wooden ferry near the resort island of Kish.

This November 12, 2015 photo released by Iran’s Mehr News agency shows an elderly woman smoking water pipe after her house in the city of Lamerd in the southern Fars province was flooded.

Meanwhile, officials in the southern Kerman province said an 11-year-old girl was killed in Manujan County. She had been reportedly trapped under the debris of her home destroyed by heavy rain.

The rainfall has also affected provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah and Lorestan in western Iran, where a total of eight people were reported killed two weeks ago. Material damage was also reported in the southern provinces of Fars and Bushehr, the eastern province of Khorasan Razavi and the desert province of Yazd. Officials said one was killed and three others were still missing in Taybad, a town located near the Afghan border.

Iran is expecting a relatively wet winter amid international forecasts suggesting that the Middle East region is bracing for the El Niño climate event unseen since 1950.

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