Floods ravaged southwestern and southeastern Iran, taking the lives of nearly 40 people so far. They were not just numbers but human beings who lost their lives in the era of technology due to regime officials’ failure to address an environmental crisis.
On Friday, July 22, heavy rainfall and subsequent flood in Fars province, southwest Iran, resulted in 11 deaths. The number of casualties has so far surpassed 23 in three cities in Fars province. It is worth noting that hundreds of people lost their lives in March 2019, on the cusp of the Persian New Year, due to heavy floods in Fars provinces, as well as other parts of the country, but the regime has not taken any action to prevent this crisis ever since.
“This crisis would not have happened if we had alarmed people. It has been a few years since the incident occurred in Shiraz, and we are witnessing another similar catastrophe. Timely warnings could have prevented this incident. Why local officials and did not take action. There would be severe consequences for us,” the state-run Mehr News agency quoted Jafar Ghaderi, the regime’s MP from Shiraz, warning officials about the consequences of their inaction facing the recent flood in Shiraz.
According to the regime’s Meteorological Organization, the total rainfall on Friday in Estehban was only 0.7 mm, and the total rainfall of 17.5 mm in two other cities near the Rodbal river catchment area caused the river to flood.
In a similar incident, at least five people lost their lives due to floods in Sistan and Baluchistan province, southeast Iran. According to local officials, communication to 50 villages has been cut off.
According to the Sistan and Baluchistan province’s Meteorological Organization, 26.5 mm of rain fell in Zahedan on Tuesday, which is 30% of the total annual rainfall of this city.
Iran has suffered from drought for at least a decade. Rainfall is a miracle for any country that faces such an environmental crisis. However, why Iranians must suffer from both drought and devastating flash floods?
Summer rains are indeed mainly torrential, and a large amount of rain in a short time could lead to intermittent and dangerous runoff, but it is not an issue that cannot be controlled.
On July 26, the state-run Ebtekar daily acknowledged that “Officials do not take flood management seriously and are not willing to use methods to reduce casualties and damages of floods.”
“To reduce the effects of this destructive phenomenon, we need to strengthen urban and rural infrastructure, create forecasting and warning systems, and local communities,” Ebtekar wrote, also telling officials that “If we do not take these measures, no official can save lives with some phone calls.”
Ebtekar then compares flood management in Iran and Malaysia.
“A flood in Malaysia took the lives of four people. Two years later, they installed a flood warning system, working based on the upstream basin’s rainfall, helping people. While a devastating flood in 1987 in Gulab Dareh and Darband near Tehran resulted in over 300 casualties, we have not installed forecasting and warning systems.”
Ravaging floods and drought are parts of Iran’s water crisis. Like others, the root of this crisis lies in the regime’s corruption, mismanagement, and ineptitude. Iran’s natural resources, like its economy, are dominated by the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). The IRGC wastes the country’s natural resources for profit, leaving people defenseless and facing natural disasters. But how?
Although drought in Iran could be attributed to global warming, it should be noted that the regime’s actions increase the effects of this global crisis by destroying the country’s aquifers by digging deep wells and changing the course of rivers by building dams.
IRGC has dug deep wells, destroying aquifers in Iran and draining thousands of cubic kilometers of groundwater, increasing soil salinity, abundance in land subsidence, and increasing the effects of drought.
Rainfall and Flood
Environmental protection requires a detailed policy and appropriate spending, and Iran has the best opportunities and resources for it. Yet, the regime continues its devastating projects, such as deforestation, building unscientific dams, avoiding installing flood management systems, and helping people in times of crisis.
The IRGC immensely profits from deforestation by smuggling and selling wood to other countries. Besides, deforestation allows regime officials to build luxurious houses in very good areas of the country. Razing the land also allowed the regime to build factories.
The second factor that plays an essential role in increasing flood damages is the officials refraining from dredging dams and rivers. Sediments have filled dams and rivers, but authorities haven’t addressed this problem in Iran. For example, after the devastating floods in Golestan province, northern Iran, in 2019 took the lives of hundreds of people, the state-run Rouydad 24 acknowledged at that time that since the dam was not dredged, it rapidly overflew, releasing the flood toward populated lands.
Conclusion
The strings of all crises lead to the Iranian regime’s ominous rule. Environmental crises are avoidable if not manageable. Iran’s ruling theocracy refuses to prevent these crises and delays helping people.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said in her message of condolences on July 23 to flood victims, “The criminal mullahs have plundered the wealth of our nation, rendering them defenseless in the face of natural disasters. The only solution is to end the sinister clerical regime.”
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