Flash floods kill 32 in the northeast

Severe flooding in northeastern Iran after torrential rains on Sunday, has claimed 32 lives and left more than 50 people injured, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) official in the capital Tehran, told IRIN on Tuesday. However, Hossain Jafari, Programme Officer for UNDP, said the situation was now “under control”. The heavy rains which lashed the area for just a few hours on Sunday, affected 12 villages in northern parts of Khorasan Province. The UN reported that 250 houses were damaged, 4,000 hectares of land destroyed and 2,000 animals lost. The worst-hit village was Tazeh Qaleh near the border with Turkmenistan. Jafari said that the Iranian Red Crescent Society and medical teams reached the affected areas within hours. Blankets, food and medicine were distributed, and Iran’s disaster task force provided 250 tents for sheltering people on dry land. He told IRIN that the water had now receded and there was no danger of disease breaking out. He added that the flash floods had not eased the drought situation, which was concentrated in the south and eastern parts of Iran. These areas had received only 10.4 mm of rain so far this year, compared to an average of 49.6 mm in previous years, according to Jafari. He said the Iranian government had informed the UN that it was able to deal with the flood situation using its own resources. “I asked the Ministry of Interior if help was required from the international community, but officials said it was not necessary,” he added. The Iranian government estimated the total damage to be US $3.75 million, the UN said.