Flooding in Iran has killed at least 26 people and left around 27 people missing after unprecedented rainfall, Iran International has said.
Horrifying footage shows a remarkable amount of floodwater rushing through the streets, while videos from the weekend showed vehicles being carried away by the rising waters and adults pulling a child from a car as it began to shift downstream.
Iran International say three people have died in Chalous and 23 in Sistan and Baluchestan, Tehran and Markazi provinces.
Khalil Abdollahi, head of the province’s crisis management department, said at least 55 people were rescued in the flood, which submerged 15 cars.
The city of Estahban in the Fars Province was hardest hit when heavy rain swelled around the Roudbal river area
Footage from the village of Emamzadeh Davoud in the Tehran province showed a teenager caked in mud and clinging to a pole as dirty debris-ridden water rushed past him. A wall then collapses moments later.
Temperatures in Iran have hit record highs with some of its hottest June days on record, at 47.8 C. Floods have been worsened by droughts because rainwater is unable to permeate through the sun-baked earth.
Iran rarely gets much rainfall and has endured several droughts over the past decade, which have made the soil harder and more solid.
Chilling photos which demonstrate the realities of climate change showed rescuers walking on parched and cracked dry soil.
Protests have taken place against the drying up of rivers, particularly in central and southwestern Iran, as people's livelihoods are becoming more affected by the impact of climate change.
Last week Iranian police reportedly arrested several suspects for disturbing security at a protest against the drying up of a lake once regarded as the Middle East’s largest.
Security forces also arrested 67 people after a protest turned violent in November
In 2019, several towns and villages in Iran had to be evacuated by heavy rainfall, which lasted three weeks and left much of the country submerged.
Haunted by the events of 2019 which killed around 76 people, Iran’s first vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber, called on the governor of Fars province to open an investigation into the incident and “to compensate the families of the victims,” according to IRNA.
