Iran continued to evacuate more people on Saturday from flood-hit regions as the death toll from the flooding hit 70.
Many residents of Susangerd, with a population of about 50,000, and five other communities in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan were being moved to safer areas, state TV reported.
“An evacuation order has been issued and we are recommending women and children to leave but we are asking the men and youth to stay and help us build floodwalls so we can keep the water out of these cities,” the provincial governor, Gholamreza Shariati, told state TV.
Shariati said emergency discharges from dams and reservoirs were adding to the high floodwaters, but such measures were essential to prevent the dams from overflowing or catastrophic breaches, with river waters continuing to rise upstream from the province.
Rescue teams are taking residents to nearby shelters, including three army barracks.
Rains were expected to end in Khuzestan by Monday, state TV said.
Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told state TV that some 400,000 people are at risk out of the province's population of five million.
Eleven towns and scores of villages have been already evacuated. There have been no evacuation orders for major cities, including the province's capital of Ahvaz, which has 1.7 million residents.
In the neighboring Lorestan province, seven villages threatened by landslides were to be evacuated, state TV said.
At least 70 people have been killed, the head of the country’s emergency services, Pirhossein Koulivand, told the state news agency IRNA.
About 1,900 cities and villages have been affected by floods after exceptionally heavy rains since March 19.
The flooding was the worst in 70 years, said Shariati.
The disaster has left aid agencies struggling to cope and seen 86,000 people moved to emergency shelters.
There have been no reports of damage to the province's petroleum facilities, which account for roughly 80 percent of Iran's oil production.
The government has told citizens, and especially flood-affected farmers, that all losses will be compensated.
Iran’s state budget is already stretched under US sanctions on energy and banking sectors that have halved its oil exports and restricted access to some revenues abroad.
President Hassan Rouhani, whom critics have accused of mismanaging the response to the disaster, said on Wednesday the sanctions were also hampering aid efforts.
As waters continue to submerge villages, the government said it had deployed more mobile medical units to the southern provinces. Around 1,000 people have been airlifted by emergency helicopters to safety in recent days.
The head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards reiterated the armed forces “were using all their power” to minimize the damage in Khuzestan. Iranian drilling companies and other energy firms have been assisting rescue efforts in flooded areas, using pumps to remove water.
Besides heavy rains, heavy damage from the floods has been blamed on widespread disregard for safety regulations in building and road constructions near rivers.
