TEHRAN (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Heavy rains in the relatively desert nation of Iran have caused flooding in the south resulting in the death of at least 21 people and few others missing, reported the state media on Saturday.
According to Hossein Darvishi, the provincial director of the Red Crescent Society, twenty-one people were killed and two were still missing in the floods that affected many communities in and around Estahban county in the southern province of Fars.
Videos shared on social media and local news outlets showed parents attempting to save their children from sinking cars as the Roodball river’s floods rose.
The state news agency IRNA reported that the governor of Estahban, Yousef Kargar said that at about 5:00 p.m. yesterday, severe rainfall… in the central regions of Estahban County led to flooding.
Estahban is located 174 kilometres (108 miles) east of Shiraz, the province capital.
The incident occurred over a summer weekend in Iran, a time when families like to seek out cooler places like valleys, riverbanks, and lakeshores.
Due to the rise in water level, Kargar continued, a number of locals and tourists (from other places) who had gone to the riverfront and were present in the river bed were caught in the flood.
Rescuers could be seen working among reeds and treading on cracked, dry soil in photos posted by Iran’s Red Crescent Society.
Heavy flooding in the country’s south in 2019 resulted in at least 76 fatalities and damage worth over $2 billion.
When severe rains hit the region in January, the original death toll from flash floods in Fars was two; however, the number soon increased to at least eight both there and elsewhere in Iran’s south.
According to scientists, climate change intensifies extreme weather, including droughts and the possibility for stronger rainstorms.
Iran has endured recurrent heat waves and dry spells for years, and these conditions are predicted to get worse.
There have been protests about river drying during the past few months, especially in central and southwest Iran.
In the dry riverbed of the Zayandeh Rood river of the country, which flows through the central city of Isfahan, thousands of people gathered in November of last year to lament the drought and accuse government officials of diverting water.
When the protest turned violent, security personnel used tear gas and reported that 67 people were taken into custody.
Official media reported last week that many people had been detained by Iranian police for obstructing the peace after they demonstrated against the drying up of what was previously thought to be the largest lake in the Middle East.
The UN Environment Programme states, a combination of a long drought, water extraction for agriculture, and the construction of dams caused Lake Urmia, located in the highlands of northwest Iran, to start receding in 1995.
Despite a severe drought, 12 people died in flash floods that surged through northern Iraq’s neighbour in December.
