Severe rainfall, flooding kills 24 in Iran: Official

By Ahmet Dursun

ANKARA (AA) - At least 24 people have been killed in a wave of torrential rainfall and flooding that has pounded Iran for the past two weeks, local officials say.

According to Mojtaba Khaledi, a spokesman for Iran's emergency services, four people were killed by flooding while another 20 lost their lives after having been struck by lightning.

Fifty-five others, Khaledi said, had been injured by severe flooding.

The worst-hit provinces, the spokesman added, are Ardabil; East and West Azerbaijan; Zanjan; Razavi Khorasan; South Khorasan; Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari; Isfahan; Kermanshah; Kurdistan; Fars; Khuzestan; Kerman; Losartan; Markazi; Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad; and Gilan.

Morteza Salimi, head of Iran’s Relief and Rescue Organization, said emergency aid had so far been delivered to more than 2,000 people in 83 cities and villages across the country.

In March and April, at least 78 people across Iran were killed in a month-long spate of severe weather.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat