
State media reported on Saturday that at least 18 people had died in flash floods brought on by torrential rainfall in the southern Iranian province of Fars.
According to Khalil Abdollahi, director of the province’s crisis management unit, flooding from the Rodbal Dam was brought on by torrential rains that fell close to the Estahban village of Soltan Shahbaz.
In the flood that swept 15 cars under the water, he said 55 people had been saved. Many persons were still unaccounted for.
Estahban is located around 105 miles (or 170 kilometres) south of Shiraz, the Fars Province’s capital.Videos of cars being swept away by the Roodball river’s increasing waves have been broadcast on social media and in local media.
Over the previous ten years, Iran has seen both frequent floods and prolonged droughts.
At least 76 people are known to have died in 2019 due to severe flooding in the country’s south, which also resulted in damage worth more than $2 billion.
When torrential rains slammed the area in January, at least two people were killed in flash flooding in Fars, according to a local official at the time.
According to scientists, climate change intensifies extreme weather, including droughts and the possibility for stronger rainstorms.