Rescue workers in eastern Syria have pulled stranded farmers to safety after the Euphrates River burst its banks, triggering widespread flooding in the region. The city of Deir Az Zor (a major urban centre in Syria's oil-rich eastern province) was among the hardest-hit areas, where floodwaters caused a bridge to collapse and left communities cut off. The disaster highlights the vulnerability of rural communities in the Euphrates valley to seasonal river flooding.