Heavy rains and flash floods have affected more than 2,000 cities and towns across almost all of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.

An estimated 10 million people have been affected in some way, including more than half a million have been displaced from their homes, some permanently. At least 78 people have been killed and more than 1,136 injured.

Zahra Falahat, the Iranian Red Crescent’s Under-Secretary-General for International Affairs and International Humanitarian Law said:

"This is the largest disaster to hit Iran in more than 15 years. The scenes that our volunteers are reporting are devastating, entire villages washed away in a matter of minutes, countless homes and buildings damaged and completely destroyed.

"For the Red Crescent, this is one of the largest humanitarian relief efforts in our history. We are making every single resource we have available to save and support people. But it is not enough."

More than 18,000 Red Crescent relief workers, most of them volunteers, have been involved in the humanitarian response. Seventeen Red Crescent helicopters along with 41 boats have been used to rescue people trapped by rising waters. In all, more than 457,000 people have been reached with Red Crescent services, including about 239,000 people who have been provided with temporary shelters.

"The recent floods are unprecedented. 25 provinces and more than 4,400 villages have been affected," Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said in parliament.

Fazli said the floods had caused around 350 trillion rials ($2.5 billion) worth of damage.

ILKHA