Two killed in flash flood in southern province of Iran

Flooding in Golestan province, Iran, in 2019. Relief teams are on high alert amid flooding in the country's south. Photo: Reuters

At least two people were killed in flash flooding in Iran’s southern province of Fars, a relief official said on Monday.

“Two people from this province were trapped by water and lost their lives,” Mehdi Khoobyar, deputy head of the Iranian Red Crescent in Fars, told the Young Journalists Club, a news agency affiliated with state television.

One of the victims died in the city of Darab, he said, without giving details on the second.

Relief teams “who were already on full alert, were dispatched to the flood-affected areas” in at least five cities in the province, he said.

The Red Crescent had “provided relief aid or rescued” hundreds of people, Mr Khoobyar was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

Officials had given warnings on Sunday of heavy rain and floods in southern provinces including Kerman and Hormozgan, local media reported. Heavy rains caused damage to agricultural lands and blocked roads in Hormozgan province, and damaged some infrastructure in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, state news agency IRNA said on Sunday.

A weather system causing heavy rain is covering Iran’s south and several Arab countries of the Gulf.

Torrential rainfall has hit the UAE, where the wet weather is expected to continue until Thursday.

Oman was also hit by heavy rain, while Kuwait suspended school classes and exams on Monday.