At Least 30 Die in Iran’s Flash Floods; 100 Injured

Flash floods triggered by torrential rain and hailstorms have left at least 30 people dead and 100 injured in northwestern Iran, state media and hospital officials said Saturday.

Aid workers were delivering food, medicine and blankets to three of the hardest hit villages in Ardebil province, said Ebadollah Kaamkar, governor of Meshgin Shahr, a city near the affected area.

At least 100 were injured after a night of heavy rain, he told the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Thirty bodies have been brought to the Meshgin Shahr hospital, Rasool Akbarzadeh, a senior nurse, said. All but three have been identified and handed over to family members.

Heavy rain and hailstorms that began Friday caused the flooding in the foothills of the Sabalan mountains near Meshgin Shahr.

The villages of Moeel, Ilando and Qinerjeh, about 375 miles northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran, were affected by the storms, IRNA said.

Dozens of cars and houses were buried under mud, and many cattle were lost, the agency quoted officials as saying. Water, gas and electricity facilities also were damaged.

The neighboring province of West Azerbaijan also has been affected by floods, state-run radio reported, without giving any details. It said only that flash floods had hit the area of Chaldoran.

The Sabalan mountain peak has been covered by more than 3 feet of fresh snowfall, which is unusual at this time of year, the radio said.