Floods Hit Iran as Emergency Services Battle Coronavirus Crisis

(Bloomberg) --

Floods across Iran have killed at least 11 people, according to reports, at a time when one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks has already overstretched first responders and hospitals.

Heavy rainfall in 10 provinces, from Hormuzgan on Iran’s Persian Gulf coast to northern Mazandaran and Qom -- the original epicenter of the virus in Iran, is inundating villages and towns, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency said, quoting Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesman for the Emergency Services Organization of Iran.

Severe floods last year killed dozens of people and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of others from across swathes of Iran’s northwestern and central region. Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus rose to 1,812 on Monday, and confirmed cases stand at 23,049, the health ministry said.

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