TEHRAN (AFP) – 2 Sep. 2016- At least four people have been killed in thunderstorms and flash flooding in northern Iran, state media reported on Friday.
A woman, 70, died after being struck by lightning while working outside in Golestan province.
Three others — two parents and their child — drowned in flash floods near a burst river bank, state media added.
Storms swept across provinces in the north and northwest on Thursday and the inclement weather continued into Friday.
“Severe storms have greatly damaged more than 900 houses in the city and villages and 100 workshops in Amol,” official IRNA news agency quoted local governor Ahmad Monfared as saying.
Amol is in Mazandaran province, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, where wind gusts reaching 130 kilometres per hour (80 miles per hour) cut power for a quarter of the population, Mizan news agency reported.
Officials have warned that the storms could reach the northeastern Khorasan Razavi province by later Friday, Mizan added.
Roads were blocked in some Golestan areas, leaving motorists stranded, a local crisis management official told Mizan.
