Death toll from Iran floods climbs to 27

ANKARA

The official death toll following a wave of torrential flooding across Iran rose to 27 on Wednesday.

According to local media reports, 19 people were killed in the city of Shiraz; two each in Iran’s northeastern Golestan province and southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province; and one each in the provinces of Kermanshah, Lorestan, Khuzestan and Semnan.

Hundreds of others -- in 25 out of 31 provinces -- were reportedly injured by the flooding, which was triggered by torrential rainfall.

Iranian officials announced the floods caused a financial loss of nearly $170 million in five cities.

The floods caused more than 1.60 trillion Riyal ($123 million) in farmlands of Golestan and Mazandaran provinces, Iran's Minister of Agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati told the semi-official Tasnim news Agency.

The floods also caused nearly 591 billion Riyal ($45 million) in infrastructure and farmlands, damaging 120 houses in Kermanshah, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari and Semnan provinces, Iranian authorities said.

According to Mortaza Salemi, head of the Iranian Red Crescent, humanitarian assistance has been delivered to more than 43,000 people in 293 affected cities and villages.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat and Erdogan Cagatay Zontur