TEHRAN –A total of 4,813 flood-hit individuals in 13 provinces received help from the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) over the five days that ended on April 27.

Conducting 91 rescue operations, 197 relief teams consisting of 770 rescuers provided help to affected people in Tehran, Qom, Fars, Semnan, Alborz, Golestan, Mazandaran, Yazd, Isfahan, Sistan-Baluchestan, South Khorasan,  Kerman, and Hormozgan provinces, IRNA quoted Babak Mahmoudi, an official with the IRCS, as saying. 

Relief teams provided emergency shelter accommodation for 344 individuals, transported 123 others to safe places, and removed water from 392 residential houses.

Moreover, they distributed five tents, 684 blankets, 295 mats, 220 food packages, 958 canned food, 194 loaves of bread, and 580 kilograms of rice among flood-hit people.

Rainfall increases by 16%

According to the Metrological Organization, since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20),  the country has experienced an increase of 16 percent in precipitation compared to the same period a year before.

However, Tehran, Semnan, and Qazvin are among the provinces that have received severely low rainfall.

From March 20 till April 22, precipitations amounted to 43 mm which shows an increase of 16 percent compared to 37 mm long-term average rainfall.

Since the beginning of the current water year (September 23, 2023) till April 22, a total of 167 mm of rainfall has been recorded in the country. It represents a 16 percent decrease from the long-term average of 198 mm.

According to statistics, Semnan (44 percent), Tehran (40 percent), Qazvin (39 percent), and Khorasan Razavi ( 37 percent) provinces have received lower amounts of rainfall compared to normal conditions.

The central, southern, and southeastern parts of the country have also experienced notably low rainfall.

Fars, with 30 percent, Hormozgan, 28 percent, and Kerman, 25 percent, have had lower than normal precipitations.

The average temperature has been 1.5 to 2 degrees cooler.

Last week, in West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, and Ardabil provinces, the temperature was  4 and 5 degrees Celsius above normal. However, in Kerman, South Khorasan, Sistan-Baluchestan, and Yazd provinces it has been 4 to 7 degrees Celsius colder than the long-term average.

From March 20 to April 22, the temperatures in Tehran, Qazvin, Semnan, North Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, South Khorasan, as well as West and North-West provinces were within or above normal ranges.

The above-mentioned provinces are going through the fourth consecutive year of serious water scarcity.

IRCS's recent services

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) offered first-aid training services to more than four million people from March 14 to April 5.

Some 63,000 other people also received rescue services.

Among 4,370 operations and services carried out by the IRCS, 2,525 were rescue operations, ISNA quoted  Mahmoudi as saying.

The IRCS provided emergency shelters for 3,931 individuals, treated 5,257 wounded people, and transferred 1,567 others to health centers.

Moreover, within the framework of a program initiated on March 14, more than four million individuals were trained in first aid by the IRCS trainers, and 400 others received online training.

Also, kids were made aware of natural hazards, such as floods and earthquakes, and other dangers using virtual reality or playing games.

MT/MG