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Tehran (Iran) – Dozens of villages and towns have been evacuated in southern Iran as authorities issued warnings for a fresh round of flooding in the regions bordering Iraq, home to a number of rivers and dams.
Continuous floods that started in March have so far claimed 70 lives, destroyed infrastructures and displaced thousands of people across Iran.
On Saturday, Iraq officially closed the Chazabeh border crossing, after Iranian authorities banned travelling and trade through the border amid flood warnings in the south Iranian province of Khuzestan. Customs authorities of Khuzestan had called on trade companies on Wednesday to use another border crossing further south as a replacement, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.
The transit road to the border passes through lands surrounding the river of Karkheh, that is expected to carry floodwaters as authorities ordered an emergency discharge in its dam to alleviate water pressure.
Khuzestan has three major rivers that pass through several villages, towns and cities, including Karoun River that cuts through the provincial capital Ahvaz.
Interior Minister Abdoreza Rahmani Fazli said flooding might affect about 400 000 people in Khuzestan out of more than 4.7 million residents of the province.
Heavy showers are also expected in the northeastern provinces, including the city of Mashhad. Flash floods recently displaced thousands and prompted chaos and panic in the western Lorestan Province.
The town of Poldokhtar bore the brunt of the disaster but flood waters also submerged homes in numerous other villages in the province, while destroyed infrastructures slowed emergency relief efforts.
Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abdolhashem Hassannia on Saturday said roads to 275 villages in the province were blocked. “During the floods, 200 bridges and 400 kilometres of roads were 100 percent destroyed,” Iran Labour News Agency (ILNA) cited Hassannia as saying. – Al Jazeera
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