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Heavy rains trigger destructive flash floods and landslides in southern Iran

ByJulie Celestial
heavy-rains-trigger-destructive-flash-floods-and-landslides-in-southern-iran

Image credit: @fresh_sadegh/Twitter

Heavy rainfall affecting southern Iraq since March 21, 2020, resulted in destructive flash floods and landslides responsible for at least 12 fatalities and 17 injuries across several provinces. Extensive damage was reported, as well as power outages in several villages.

According to Tasnim News Agency, intense downpours over the past days caused flash floods and swollen rivers, affecting the provinces of Farsh, Bushehr, Hormozgan, Kerman, and Sistan and Baluchestan.

Other provinces also hit by inundations are the northern province of Gilan, Golestan, Kohgiluyeh, Boyer-Ahmad in the west, and the central province of Qom.

In the province of Bushehr, several villages suffered power outages while mudslides occurred between Rahak and Dir cities.

On Monday, March 23, the spokesperson for Iran's Emergency Medical Service confirmed that the severe weather claimed 12 lives and injured 17 across the affected provinces. Two others remain unaccounted for.

Five of the fatalities were in Fars, while two were in Kangan in Bushehr.

Torrential rainfall has prompted authorities in some cities to declare a state of emergency and order evacuations.

According to the governor of Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchestan, rains over a 24-hour period into Monday, March 23 have resulted in extensive damage to infrastructure in the city, as well as in the other urban and rural parts of the region.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said rescue and relief operations are underway in the impacted areas. In addition, IRCS officials in Sistan and Baluchestan have mobilized rescue efforts using helicopters.

On March 15, the Iranian Minister of Energy Reza Ardakanian announced that after considering weather forecasts indicating that some parts of the country will be hit by heavy rains, preparations have been made to deal with the situation.

Noting the flash floods in 2019, the Iranian Minister of Energy, Reza Ardakanian, said his ministry has done efforts to better handle the conditions of the dams.

"At present, 40 percent of the 50 billion cubic m (1.7 billion cubic feet) capacity of the country's dams is empty, which means [there are] enough capacity to receive spring floods."

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