TEHRAN – Relief and rescue services are being provided to flood victims in 5 provinces across the country, Mehdi Valipour, head of the IRCS Relief and Rescue Organization, has said.

Due to the heavy rains and storms from August 7, some parts of the western regions of the country were flooded and rescue operations started immediately and are still ongoing.

Fourteen cities in five provinces of Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh-Boyer Ahmed, Lorestan, Isfahan, and West Azarbaijan were hit by the flood.

Twenty percent of areas across Iran are highly prone to flooding. The Iranian Red Crescent Society aid workers, including 52 teams, provided relief and rescue services to 4,700 people in flood-affected areas, he said.

Earlier, flash flooding in 17 provinces which started on July 23 claimed 93 lives and left 6 people missing.

Twenty percent of areas across Iran are highly prone to flooding, Khosro Shahbazi, former head of the Forests, Range, and Watershed Management Organization, said in January 2020.

According to statistics, the average rainfall in the country in the last 50 years has been 270 mm, which has decreased by 230 mm, in other words, over the past 5 decades, the average rainfall has dropped by 40 mm.

According to the World Meteorological Organization's multiannual forecast, in the next five years, Iran’s average rainfall will decline by 75 percent, and the temperature rises by 50-75 percent compared to the long-term average.

FB/MG