TEHRAN -- Flash floods caused by three days of heavy rain have killed three people in the Central Iranian town of Tabas, state television said on Sunday.

Rivers burst their banks, sending torrents of muddy water into surrounding farmland in the province of Yazd on Saturday.

Gas, roads and drinking water supplies were cut off in places and many homes were flooded.

The storms also sank three Iranian trawlers in the Caspian Sea on Sunday, the official IRNA news agency said, but there was no word on casualties.

Iran has had higher rainfall this year, but it is not clear whether enough rain has fallen to end a three-year drought which has led to domestic water shortages and damaged agriculture.

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