Floods that have swept through much of Iran over the past 15 days have claimed 62 lives, the head of the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization told local media Wednesday.
Ahmad Shojaee told the semi-official Fars news agency the southern province of Fars has been hit the hardest with 21 dead.
The western province of Lorestan and the northern province of Golestan followed with 14 and eight dead respectively, he said.
Flood-related deaths have been reported in 11 out of Iran's 31 provinces, Shojaee added.
The semi-official ISNA news agency said the current toll was a tally of the victims whose bodies have been transferred to coroner offices across the country -- indicating the count could still rise.
Iran has been hit by flooding across most of the country since March.
The country's northeast was swamped on March 19 before the west and southwest of the country were inundated on March 25, killing a total 45 people.
Flooding in the west and southwest continued on April 1 when heavy rains returned to the area.
"Seventy-eight intercity roads have been blocked, as many as 2,199 rural roads and 84 bridges have been washed away," said Behnam Saeedi, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Organization.
"Across 15 provinces, 141 rivers burst their banks and around 400 landslides were reported," he told state TV.
The government said the flooding had damaged nearly 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) of roads, or 36 percent of the country's entire street network.
President Hassan Rouhani, whose critics have accused him of mismanaging the emergency response to the disaster, on Wednesday said the US sanctions were hampering efforts to deliver aid, echoing comments by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied that contention on Tuesday, saying Washington was ready to help via the Red Cross and Red Crescent and blaming Iran’s clerical establishment for the scale of the disaster.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it had released just under 500,000 Swiss francs ($500,000) as cash grants for 3,000 Iranian families that have lost homes and livelihoods in the floods.
Local authorities in the stricken areas have repeatedly asked for more helicopters to reach remote and cutoff locations.
Britain and Germany have offered to send help, including boats and safety equipment.
Iranian drilling companies and other energy firms have been assisting rescue efforts in flooded areas, notably using their pumps to remove water.
Oil minister Bijan Zanganeh suggested they should do more.
“Along with performing their essential duties, (firms in the sector) should use all of their existing capabilities to help the people and reduce the flood waters,” he said on the ministry’s newsfeed.
