Vehicles carried away by rising waters after heavy rainfall in the largely arid country
\nTehran
\nFlooding in southern Iran has killed at least 22 people and left one person missing after heavy rainfall in the largely arid country, a local official has said.
\nVideos posted on local and social media on Saturday showed vehicles being carried away by the rising waters of the Roodball river in the southern province of Fars. One video showed adults pulling a child from a car as it began to shift downstream.
\nFlooding affected several towns in and around the Estahban county area of the country. \u201cThe number of people killed has risen to 22 after another body was found,\u201d Javad Moradian, who heads a local rescue unit, told Mehr news agency.
\nA Red Crescent official earlier put the death toll at 21, with two people missing.
\nIran has endured repeated droughts over the past decade, but also regular floods, a phenomenon made worse when torrential rain falls on sun-baked earth.
\nThe governor of Estahban, Yousef Kargar, said \u201caround 5.00 pm yesterday, heavy rains \u2026 in the central parts of Estahban county led to flooding\u201d, according to state news agency IRNA.
\nThe incident happened 174 kilometres (108 miles) east of the provincial capital Shiraz on a summer weekend, when families tend to head to cooler areas such as rivers, lakes and valleys.
\n\u201cA number of local people and sightseers (from other areas) who had gone to the riverside and were present in the riverbed were caught in the flood due to the rise in the water level,\u201d Kargar added.
\nIran\u2019s first vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber, called on the governor of Fars province to open an investigation into the incident and \u201cto compensate the families of the victims,\u201d according to IRNA.
\nThe state news agency also reported that a weather report put out by meteorologists in Fars warned there could be further strong rainfall ahead.
\nIn 2019, heavy rains in the country\u2019s south left at least 76 people dead and caused damage estimated at more than $2bn.
\nIn January, two people were initially reported killed in flash flooding in Fars when heavy rains hit the area, but the toll rose to at least eight there and elsewhere in Iran\u2019s south.
\nScientists say the climate crisis amplifies extreme weather, including droughts as well as the potential for the increased intensity of rain storms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vehicles carried away by rising waters after heavy rainfall in the largely arid country Tehran Flooding in southern Iran has killed at least 22 people and left one person missing after heavy rainfall in the largely arid country, a local official has said. Videos posted on local and social media on Saturday showed vehicles being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-273293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n