Heavy Rain, Flood Hit Kalat City in Northeast of Iran (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Heavy flooding caused by heavy rains has damaged at least 10 houses in Kalat City in Iran’s northeastern province of North Khorasan.
Governor of Kalat County Mehdi Naseri said that at least one building was destroyed and 10 residential buildings have been damaged by the Friday flood, adding that Mashhad-Kalat road had also been temporary blocked by the flood.
Nasrallah Pejmanfar, a parliament member and representative of the people of Mashhad and Kalat, told Tansim that between 80 to 90 percent of agricultural lands and products has been destroyed in Kalat floods.
“No one has been killed in the floods but several bridges were damaged and destroyed by the flood,” Pejmanfar said.
Iran has witnessed unprecedented and heavy spring rains since March.
On March 19, massive downpours began sweeping the country, with raging currents of water battering houses, washing away cars and killing people in a few provinces.
The intense rainfalls eventually caused rivers to burst their banks triggering the worst flooding in decades in 25 of the country’s 31 provinces.
According to Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the flooding caused an estimated $2.5 billion in damage to roads, bridges, homes and farmland. It affected 4,400 villages, damaged 14,000 kilometers of roads and destroyed more than 700 bridges.
Estimates by government agencies suggest that the floods have taken the lives of nearly 80 people and destroyed over 25,000 houses around the country.
