Floods Demolish 25,000 Houses Across Iran and Damage 60,000

Heavy rains caused severe flooding on March 26. Floods have demolished over 25,000 houses across Iran in less than two weeks, Hadi Derafshi, an official at the Iranian Housing Foundation told journalists on Monday.

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"Over 60,000 more houses have been damaged by the floods and need restoration," he added.

The disaster comes during Iranian New Year, Nowruz, holidays when many Iranians travel within the country.

In three cities in western provinces, citizens received an immediate order for evacuation, as floods completely swamped the Khorramabad, the capital of Lorestan province. The city's airport is also submerged and all flights to and from Khorramabad have been canceled, the official said.

"Telephones are not working, our radio communications are down... at this moment we have no news of other cities and villages," he told IRINN, adding roads were flooded and helicopters were unable to take off due to the bad weather.

"We have requested emergency help from neighboring provinces but at the present, no one can do anything."

Rainfalls continued across Iran all Sunday, most heavily in northern, western and central Iran.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society reported at least 45 dead.

Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif twitted that sanctions are "impeding aid efforts by Iranian Red Crescent to all communities devastated by unprecedented floods. Blocked equipment includes relief choppers. This isn't just economic warfare; it's economic TERRORISM."

Donald Trump left a multi-lateral nuclear deal in 2017 signed with Iran and returned the sanctions that had been lifted under the agreement.