Floods Create Havoc in Iranian Southern Regions

EghtesadOnline: Heavy rainfall in the southern Hormozgan and southeastern Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces in the past few days has damaged houses, bridges, power/water infrastructure, flooded many streets, blocked roads and displaced people.

News ID: ۷۴۹۴۳۱

13 January 2020

Torrential rains, which started on Jan 9, have led to flash floods in several cities in the three provinces, ISNA reported.

Due to deluge, over 300 villages in Kerman Province are inaccessible as roads remain blocked and communications are also cut off, Financial Tribune quoted director of crisis management in the Kerman Governorate, Majid Saeedi, as saying.

He noted that many villages are trapped by heavy snow. “Links to the rural areas remain blocked due to the long distance from the main roads and the mountainous areas.”

According to data from 15 rain gauge stations in Sistan-Baluchestan, more than 100 millimeters of rain fell in the past three days in the province, equivalent to one year’s rainfall in the region, Mohsen Heydari, director of Sistan-Baluchestan Meteorology Organization said.

Several cities in the province including Zahedan, Nikshahr, Khash, Delgan, Taftan, Saravan, Konarak and Mirjaveh in Sistan-Baluchestan have been hit by sosme of the worst deluge in recent years.

People in Hormozgan Province are also facing nature’s wrath.

Bandar Abbas, Qeshm, Bandar Lengeh, Minab, Sirik, Jask, Bashagard and Roudan in Hormozgan are among the cities affected by flooding.

Rescue teams of Iranian Red Crescent Society are helping the people and opening roads. They have distributed flood relief, including food and blankets among the affected communities.

Recent Disasters

In the past months, other regions in the south have also been struggling high rainfall. Widespread flooding hit the southern Bushehr and southwestern Khuzestan provinces and Hormozgan between October and December 2019.

Around 1,000 people were affected in Khuzestan and Bushehr and 300 were displaced.

Abadan City in Khuzestan recorded 113mm of rain on December 16, almost half the typical annual precipitation that is 230mm. Average amount of rainfall in December in the city is usually around 20 to 25mm.

In addition to the southern regions, IRCS teams also provided relief to other provinces, including Isfahan, Zanjan, Fars, Lorestan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, South Khorasan and Kohgilouyeh-Buyerahmad, which were affected by severe weather including snowstorms in December.

According to IRCS, five people died in two separate incidents in Hormozgan when their cars were swept away by the floodwaters.

Devastating floods swept several provinces across Iran last March and April coinciding with the Persian New Year (Nowrouz) festivities.

Heavy rainfall overflew rivers, washed away bridges, inundated houses and destroyed infrastructure in Kermanshah, Fars, Lorestan, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Golestan, Mazandaran, North Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Hamedan, Semnan and Khuzestan killing 70 people and causing up to 350 trillion rials ($2.5 billion) in damages.