Flooding in southern Iran has left at least 22 dead and one person missing after heavy rains in the largely dry country, a local official said. Officials with the local Red Crescent aid group confirmed the deaths on Saturday, adding that 150 rescuers and an air force were working at the scene in the city of Estahban, 174 km (108 miles) east of the provincial capital Shiraz. The governor of Estahban, Yousef Kargar, said Friday’s heavy rains in the central parts of Estahban county led to flooding, according to State News.
Videos posted locally and on social media showed cars caught in rising waters and swept away while parents tried to rescue their children from the vehicles. Khalil Abdollahi, head of the province’s emergency management department, told Reuters that at least 55 people had been rescued in the flood, which submerged 15 cars. The flooding occurred on a summer weekend in Iran, when families tend to head to cooler areas such as the banks of rivers, lakes and valleys.
Drought and floods
Iran has endured repeated droughts over the past decade, but has also seen regular flooding, a phenomenon made worse when torrential rain falls on the sun-scorched land. Photos released showed rescuers walking across cracked dry ground while others worked among reeds. Scientists say climate change is intensifying extreme weather events, including drought, as well as the potential for increased intensity of rainstorms.
In 2019, severe flooding in the south of the country claimed at least 76 lives and caused damage estimated at more than $2 billion. In January, two people were initially reported killed in flash floods in Fars as heavy rains hit the area, but the toll there and elsewhere in southern Iran rose to at least eight. There have been demonstrations against the drying up of rivers, especially in central and southwestern Iran.
Security forces arrested 67 people after a protest turned violent in November when thousands gathered in the country’s parched Zayandeh Rud River basin to complain about drought and accuse officials of diverting water. Last week, local media reported that Iranian police had arrested several suspected security breaches after they protested the drying up of a lake once believed to be the largest in the Middle East.
