BEIJING, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rainfalls have drenched many parts of the world this week, precipitating flash floods that inflicted mass casualties and damage.

At least 16 people were killed in the southeastern U.S. state of Kentucky after heavy rain-caused flooding hit the eastern part of the state, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said Friday.

Beshear said he expected the number to more than double, and "it's going to include some children." There are also a number of people unaccounted for, local media quoted Beshear as saying.

Flooding also hit parts of West Virginia and Virginia. Poweroutage.us reported more than 33,000 customers remained without electricity Friday in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, with the bulk of the outages in Kentucky.

U.S. President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration.

The National Weather Service warned heavy rains and flooding could continue throughout the weekend in parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia.

Heavy rainfalls have also poured down on Iran, leading to flooding in 20 provinces, and causing damage to 100 counties and 300 villages.

Mehdi Vallipour, head of the Relief and Rescue Organization of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Friday that at least 53 people were killed and 16 are still missing.

Vallipour noted that 3,000 people have so far been provided with emergency accommodation and another 1,300 transferred to safe places.

In northern and eastern United Arab Emirates (UAE), heavy downpours since Wednesday have caused floods in several regions, including the emirates of Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah.

The UAE National Center of Meteorology said Fujairah has recorded the biggest rainfall for the month of July in the past 27 years.

The floods claimed the lives of seven on Friday, tweeted Al Salem Al Tunaiji, director general of the UAE Ministry of Interior's federal operations.

Monsoon rains and ensuing flash floods have swept through Pakistan since June 14, leaving at least 357 people dead and over 400 injured, the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said Thursday.

Data by the NDMA also showed that the floods fully or partially damaged 23,792 homes, and displaced thousands of people in the country.

Heavy rains and flooding coming on Wednesday night in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province killed at least eight people and injured four others, the provincial government said Thursday in a statement.

In Bangladesh, a flood report of the country's Health Emergency Operation Center and Control Room released Tuesday said from May 17 to July 26, heavy seasonal rains and onrush of water had killed 131 people.

Many scientists believed that extreme rain events have become more frequent due to climate change that is reshaping weather patterns.

"These extreme rainfall events are the type you would expect to see in a warming world," meteorologist Jeff Masters was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

A study published on July 7 in Nature magazine by four researchers at Yale University also noted that there will possibly be a twofold increase in the volume of extreme rainfall in this century compared with estimates by previous studies, which could explain why the world is already witnessing such intense and unprecedented rainstorms. Enditem

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