At least 19 people have been killed and about 100 more injured in flash floods in southern Iran.

Dramatic footage showed crumpled cars piled up deep in mud and water and people clinging to lamp posts after floods swept through the city of Shiraz, where most of the deaths occurred on Monday.

Pirhossein Kolivand, head of Iran’s emergency medical services, said four children were among those who died, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.

High water is said to have damaged thousands of houses in the city and other towns, and 26 out of 31 regions are on high alert for imminent flooding because of torrential rain forecast for the coming days.

The spread of flooding to the south comes after days of floods in the north which affected more than 56,000 people living in 270 villages and small towns in the regions of Golestan and Mazandaran on the Caspian Sea.

Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Show all 10 1 /10 Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Cars are piled after being swept up in flash flooding in Shiraz in south-central Iran AFP/Getty Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Vehicles are swept to the roadside in flash flooding in Shiraz in south-central Iran Reuters Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Military vehicles rescue people after flash flooding in the north Iranian of Agh Ghaleh AP Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran The northern Iranian village of Agh Ghaleh - shown here on March 23 - has been flooded over the past week AFP/Getty Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran The northern Iranian city of Agh Ghaleh - shown here on March 23 - has been flooded over the past week AFP/Getty Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Clean-up efforts after flash flooding in Shiraz in south-central Iran Reuters Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Residents of the northern Iranian village of Agh Ghaleh - shown here on March 23 - walk in a flooded street. The town has been flooded over the past week AFP/Getty Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Cars are piled after being swept up in flash flooding in Shiraz in south-central Iran AFP/Getty Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran Cars are piled after being swept up in flash flooding in Shiraz in south-central Iran AP Flash flooding kills at least 19 in Iran The northern Iranian city of Agh Ghaleh - shown here on March 23 - has been flooded over the past week AFP/Getty

Five people were killed in floods in the north, according to the state-run Press TV channel.

Iran’s judiciary said the government’s handling of the disaster was being investigated after it was criticised for reacting to slowly to the floods.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

“Any shortcomings regarding the handling of te floods, failure to provide relief and aid to the survivors will be investigated,” judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi was quoted as saying by Mizan news agency.

Fars governor Enayatollah Rahimi told state TV the flooding was under control and rescue and aid workers had been deployed to the flood-hit areas.

Iran’s energy minister Reza Ardakanian blamed climate change as the cause of the floods.

“Climate change is forcing itself on our country,” Tasnim quoted him as saying. “These floods in Iran are the result of climate change worldwide.”