While two-third of the city of Aqqala, in northern Iran, is still submerged in water, the governor of the southern oil-rich province of Kuzestan has banned all local managers from leaving the region.

"Since there are some concerns over the basin of Karkheh River, forces have been assigned to check the floodgates, and do whatever necessary to confront a possible flash flood in the province," Gholamreza Shariati declared.

Iran Meteorological Organization (IRMO) warned that some areas in the west and southwest of the country were also being threatened by freezing temperatures and flash floods.

Earlier, Iran’s vice president had fired the governor of another province for being on a foreign trip and not returning to manage the disaster emergency.

Es’haq Jahangiri, Hassan Rouhani’s vice president made the move as the government is being blamed for inaction in the face of floods in northern provinces, especially in Golestan, bordering Turkmenistan.

The former governor, Manaf Hashemi was in Europe for a few weeks prior to the disaster and failed to return to Iran to coordinate the emergency, as thousands of people are said to be stranded in inland seas created by the floods.