Publication Date April 7, 2019 | NPR

Flooding In Iran Kills At Least 70, Forces Evacuation Of Thousands

Iran
A man stands in mud in the city of Mamulan in Iran's Lorestan Province. Heavy rain and unprecedented flooding has killed at least 70 people in Iran since mid-March. Photo: Hossein Mersadi, AFP/Getty Images
A man stands in mud in the city of Mamulan in Iran's Lorestan Province. Heavy rain and unprecedented flooding has killed at least 70 people in Iran since mid-March. Photo: Hossein Mersadi, AFP/Getty Images

Flooding in Iran has killed at least 70 people, and forced the mass evacuation of thousands, as heavy rain continues to fall on much of the country.

Mansoureh Bagheri, Director of International Relations at the Iranian Red Crescent Society, spoke with NPR from Tehran, Iran. "Since March 16, we've started three rounds of rainfall in Iran. It started from the north part of Iran, and I can say it engaged the whole provinces. Out of 31 provinces, almost 24 provinces have been impacted by the severe rainfall," Bagheri said.

The floods occurred during Iran's new year holiday of Norwuz, and left many stranded. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reports floods killed people across 13 provinces. According to IRNA, "The disaster began with heavy rainfalls in the northern provinces of Iran since March 19, and continued across Iran with flash floods in southern, central and western provinces."

Iran's Mehr News Agency reports some 1,900 cities and villages have been flooded, "causing hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to Iranian water and agriculture infrastructures."