posted July 23, 2001 09:55            

Some 400 shops and houses have been been either destroyed or damaged in the floods in Chaldoran, said Mehdi Ibrahimzadeh, a provincial official, adding that damages were estimated at some 25 million dollars.

Local officials said Saturday that five villages had been hit by the floods, and added that essential supplies were being transported to the region where fresh water supplies have also been cut-off.

They earlier said 30 people had died, and 37 others were hurt.

posted July 23, 2001 09:56            

TEHRAN, July 22 (Reuters) - The death toll from floods in northwest Iran rose to 34 as heavy rains continued to lash the region, state media reported on Sunday. But much of the rest of the country continued to suffer from a severe three-year drought.

The official IRNA news agency said two people were killed by floods on Saturday in the town of Chaldoran, near the Turkish border. It said shops in the town and surrounding farmland had been hit.

The flooding came a day after rains battered the region around the town of Meshkinshahr, near the border with Azerbaijan.

State television said the death toll around Meshkinshahr had risen to at least 32, and flooding had cut off gas and water supplies and damaged roads and bridges. IRNA had earlier reported up to 22 people dead.

Unseasonal snow has also covered a mountain near Meshkinshahr, press reports said.

Elsewhere, the country is suffering what a U.N. report describes as the worst drought to hit Iran in 30 years.