Death Toll From Iran Floods Rises to Six

[senorpepr]

SHIRAZ -- Six People have died in flash floods which were triggered by torrential rains in the southern Iranian Province of Fars, a senior provincial official said here Sunday.

They lost their lives after being washed away by floods in Farashband, Mohr, Darab, Abadeh and Bavanat districts, except for one who died from electrical shock after a power pylon fell on his car, the head of the province's natural disasters office Hamid Taqizadeh said.

According to the official, downpours in the province have become intense since early Sunday to an extent that most of the cities and villages in the province's west are threatened by much flooding.

"Residents of three villages in the town of Mamasani have totally been displaced and transferred to safe areas," he said.

Relief assistance, Taqizadeh added, is being rushed to the affected areas.

Residents in the Deiram district, recovered the body of a 16-year-old boy, a regional governor said on Saturday.

Heavy rains, which have started since Friday, have caused rivers in the region to flood their banks, washing away farmlands, cattle ranches, shrimp farming units as well as roads, he added.

A provincial transport official, Akbar Shirazi, said on Saturday that floods had severed linkage between several villages and major cities in the Fars Province, including five villages which had totally been left marooned.

Meteorological officials in the province have predicted downpours to continue until Friday, warning the situation would get even worse.

Floods in other southern provinces have surrounded many villages and towns and damaged bridges and other infrastructural establishments.

According to an official in Dayyer, Bushehr Province, floods have caused its vast Goldanu dam to crack open, sending waves of water towards nearby lands.

In Gachsaran in Kohkilouyeh-Boyer Ahmad Province, floods have seriously damaged more than 90 bridges and cut 90 percent of roads which link nomadic regions.