23 Dead as Iran Battles Heavy Rain and Floods

Iran battled torrential rain and floods across most of the country on Tuesday, warning citizens to stay vigilant after unprecedented flash flooding killed 23 people.

The authorities also announced for the first time that seven people were killed a week ago in separate floods that swept the northeastern provinces of Golestan and Mazandaran.

The latest deluge claimed the lives of 19 people and injured 98 in the worst-hit southern city of Shiraz, the rescue services said.

There was also one death in each of the western provinces of Kermanshah, Lorestan and Kogiluyeh-Va-Boyerahmad, and another in the southwestern province of Khuzestand.

The disaster, which the energy minister blamed on climate change, struck in the middle of Iranian New Year holidays, with many relief workers on vacation and millions of Iranians on the roads.

On Tuesday the authorities sent out emergency warnings to the public on mobile phones as state television aired safety tips, including on how to leave cars stuck in floods.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a message of condolence and urged officials to speed up relief efforts and compensation for victims of the floods, which the authorities described as unprecedented.

Overall, at least 110 people were injured in this week's flooding, the health ministry said.

More than 25,000 had to be put up in emergency accommodation, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

With at least 20 of Iran's 31 provinces experiencing floods or facing an imminent threat and more than 250 cities and villages needing emergency assistance, the country's National Crisis Management Committee was put on its highest alert level.

Iran's meteorological service has warned of more heavy showers through to Wednesday, and flood warnings have gone out for central provinces including Isfahan and Tehran.

Sandbagging in Tehran

In the capital sandbags were laid at the entrances to underground stations as police made emergency plans to divert traffic from freeways already impeded by runoff from the downpour.

In top tourist attraction Isfahan, residents and travelers were evacuated from the banks of the Zayandeh Rood river over fears they would burst.

The river had been completely dry until recently due low rainfall.

As the weather front moves to the east of Iran, more and more regions of the country that had been facing chronic water shortages a few months ago have been inundated with water.

The downpour has triggered scores of landslides that have blocked roads, especially in mountainous regions.

One buried an entire village in Kogiluyeh-Va-Boyerahmad province shortly after residents were evacuated, the semi-official Fars News agency quoted its governor as saying.

Hundreds of villages in western Iran have been cut off with many also losing electricity and normal water supplies, forcing authorities to deploy military helicopters to try to save and supply those left stranded. 

Overnight the crisis management committee sent out multiple text messages to all mobile telephones in Iran urging people to be cautious and await instructions from official sources.

"Remain calm when facing possible dangers... do not honk your car horns in mountainous regions as it might cause avalanches," one of the messages read.

"Do not set up tents near rivers or mountainous areas... and most importantly do not cross bridges when floods are running underneath," read another one.

The floods followed extreme rainfall which at times was equivalent to half of the average annual levels within 24 hours.

Such a widespread flood threat is unprecedented in arid Iran, which until 2018 was dealing with decades of drought.

 "Climate change is forcing itself on our country," said Energy Minister Reza Ardekanian, who is in charge of dams and water supply.

"These unprecedented floods in our country are because of climate change worldwide," he said on Monday, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.

Photo Credit: IRNA

At Least 18 Dead as Iran Faces Unprecedented Floods

Major floods across much of Iran have left 18 people dead and more than 70 injured, blocking roads and triggering landslides with warnings of more heavy rain to come, emergency services said Monday.

Such a widespread flood threat is unprecedented in arid Iran, which until 2018 was dealing with decades of drought.

Seventeen people were killed and 74 injured in the southern city of Shiraz, and one person was killed in Sarpol-e Zahab in the western province of Kermanshah, the rescue services said.

The national emergency has struck in the middle of Iranian New Year holidays, with many relief workers also on vacation.

Many of those killed in Shiraz were holidaymakers caught in the flood as they entered the city in their cars.

With 25 of Iran's 31 provinces experiencing floods or facing imminent threat, the country's National Crisis Management Committee was activated at cabinet level.

"I have ordered all governor-generals, all provincial managers and officials nationwide to stay at their posts throughout the next 72 hours which is the peak of the flood threat," First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri said on state television after the committee's first meeting.

Since the flooding, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, has been absent from public view, with his deputies and ministers taking his place in visiting disaster-struck areas.

Reports on the ultra-conservative Fars news agency that Rouhani has been vacationing on the southern Gulf island of Qeshm have triggered criticism from his political opponents.

Situation 'Critical'

Iran's meteorological service has warned of more heavy showers until Wednesday, forecasting as much as 15 centimetres (almost six inches) of rainfall in some western provinces in the next 24 hours.

The situation is "critical" in the provinces of Khuzestan, Lorestan and Kohgiluyeh-Va-Boyerahmad, said Deputy Interior Minister Mehdi Jamalinejad, quoted by the ISNA news agency.

The latest floods follow major flooding on March 19 in the northeast's Golestan and Mazandaran provinces, for which no official casualty toll has been issued.

The police have advised against road trips in the coming days, with many roads blocked by flooding or landslides caused by heavy rains.

Tehran's Mehrabad Airport announced delays or cancellations of flights to the provinces.

The Crises Management Organization and the health ministry, in charge of hospitals, have cancelled all leave and been placed on full alert.

Local media reported that hundreds of villages have lost electricity and water, many of them cut off as access roads were washed away.

'Climate Change'

The army has been called in to help the worst affected areas, and villages are being evacuated for fear of rivers and dams overflowing.

Officials have gone on state television to broadcast urgent calls for holidaymakers as well nomadic tribes in western Iran to move to high ground and away from rivers.

Flood warnings have gone out for central provinces such as Isfahan and the 
capital Tehran. 

"Climate change is forcing itself on our country," said Energy Minister Reza Ardekanian, who is in charge of dams and water supply.

"These unprecedented floods in our country are because of climate change worldwide," he said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.

Photo Credit: IRNA