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Flooding kills 11 in Iran’s northeast, west

Saturday, 12 August 2017 4:52 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 12 August 2017 6:55 AM ]

A file photo of floodwaters in northeastern Iran

Heavy downpours have caused flooding in northeastern and western Iran, killing 11 people and leaving two others missing.

Torrential rains have been battering the Iranian provinces of Khorasan Razavi, Golestan, North Khorasan, and Semnan in the country’s general northeastern area, and Ilam Province in its west over the past days, causing rivers to overflow their banks.

Morteza Salimi, the head of Relief and Rescue Operations at Iran’s Red Crescent Society, said the flooding had claimed eight people in Khorasan Razavi, two in Golestan, and another in North Khorasan.

Two people have gone missing in Golestan’s Aliabad County, he said.

In Khorasan Razavi, which has suffered the brunt of the human losses, flooding has hit the cities of Dargaz, Quchan, Nishapur, and Kalat. Mojtaba Ahmadi, the director of the Red Crescent Society in the province, said 190 rescue workers had been dispatched to the affected areas there, alongside ambulances and aid shipments.

As many as 450 people have, meanwhile, been accommodated in temporary shelters, Ahmadi added.

Mahdi Rezayi, who is the deputy of operations at the Fire Department in Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan Razavi Province, said 40 travelers stranded on roadways had also been safely evacuated in a village in Kalat.

North Khorasan’s Shirvan County was the worst hit by the flooding, said Samad Izanlu, a deputy at the local governor’s office. Up to four villages sustained substantial infrastructural damages there and were cut off from nearby areas by floodwaters, he added.

Back in April, heavy rains caused flooding and landslides in four provinces in Iran’s northwest, killing a total of 48 people.

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