Heaviest rains in century bring floods to Caspian Sea coast: Iran media

Severe floods have hit northern Iran, wounding 20 people and damaging infrastructure, after what officials described as the heaviest rainfall in the area in a century, local media reported. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 19 September 2023
Follow

Heaviest rains in century bring floods to Caspian Sea coast: Iran media

  • Twenty people have been injured, the Mehr news agency reported
  • The river systems that flow from Iran’s extensive mountain ranges make it vulnerable to flash flooding

Tehran: Flash floods have injured 20 people in northern Iran, after what officials described as the region’s heaviest rains in a century, Iranian media reported.
The rains have battered the cities of Astara and Talesh, on the Caspian Sea coast near the border with Azerbaijan since Sunday, the reports said.
“Heavy rains ... have fallen over Astara which have not been seen in 100 years,” Gilan province’s head of crisis management Amir Moradi told the ISNA news agency on Monday.
Twenty people have been injured, the Mehr news agency reported.
State news agency IRNA quoted officials as saying that more flooding was expected on Tuesday in Gilan province and western districts of neighboring Mazandaran.
The floodwaters brought down one bridge in Astara and heavily damaged another, the Tasnim news agency reported.
It shared images of emergency teams helping motorists to escape from vehicles that had been partially submerged by the water.
The river systems that flow from Iran’s extensive mountain ranges make it vulnerable to flash flooding.
Last year, floods hit 21 out of Iran’s 31 provinces killing at least 96 people, authorities said.


Yemen anti-terror forces display confiscated STC explosives and equipment used

Confiscated explosives and equipment belonging to the now dissolved UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council is displayed.
Updated 9 sec ago
Follow

Yemen anti-terror forces display confiscated STC explosives and equipment used

RIYADH: Yemeni anti-terrorism forces, trained and equipped by Saudi Arabia, show confiscated explosives and equipment belonging to the now dissolved UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Mukalla.

Earlier today, Salam Al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadhramaut, suggested the United Arab Emirates played an alarming role in Yemen and the largest of its 21 governorates. 

In a televised press conference yesterday, Al-Khanbashi accused the UAE of having exploited the coalition working to restore legitimate government in Yemen “to achieve its own agenda.” 

He also claimed that the citizens of Hadhramaut had been killed, terrorised and tortured by armed groups affiliated with STC leader Maj. Gen. Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, who is backed by the UAE and earlier this month was sacked as vice-president of the country’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC).