Preparing to Accommodate ‘100,000’ Flood Displaced Persons in Khuzestan

Early Sunday morning, authorities continued to warn residents of some areas in Khuzestan Province to evacuate their homes due to the risk of flooding, while some officials reported that many residents were reluctant to leave their homes.

Domestic news agencies reported the evacuation of 174 cities and villages from flood risk in Khuzestan.

These news agencies also reported the accommodation of over 2,000 residents of Hamidiyeh city in Khuzestan in military units and the preparation of camps for accommodating 100,000 people in Hoveiza and around Hamidiyeh.

According to IRNA news agency, Hamid Silavi, Director General of Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs of Khuzestan Province’s Governorate, said that “in coordination with the crisis headquarters, 6 camps have been established to accommodate flood-stricken foreign nationals in the province in Dezful, Andimeshk, Mellathani and Gotvand cities.”

He did not provide an explanation for the separation of camps for flood-affected foreign nationals and Iranian citizens.

In recent days, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran’s Interior Minister, stated that 400,000 people in Khuzestan Province are at risk of flooding.

It was also reported that due to water inundation, the transit road Ahvaz-Shush has been closed, and 14 rural water supply facilities in Shushtar city have been taken out of operation.

251 power poles and substations are also at risk from Khuzestan’s flooding, and flood-affected residents are facing water, electricity and gas shortages.

The flooding has also caused 30 billion tomans in damage to Khuzestan’s nomadic sector.

According to IRNA news agency, on Sunday afternoon, the second Kuwaiti plane carrying that country’s aid to flood victims entered Iran. According to this report, Kuwait’s Sunday aid includes 40 tons of food items, 1,000 12-meter tents, 2,000 food baskets for one month per household, 2,000 blankets and 100 water pumping units.

Authorities Warn of Evacuation

The Khuzestan Governor again urged residents of Susangerd, Bostan, Rufayyah (Kaveh), Kut Seyednaeym, Hoveiza and Hamidiyeh on Sunday morning to leave their residences “as soon as possible”.

Gholamreza Shariati said on Saturday evening in an interview with Iran Television that the water inflow to the Karun Dam contrary to expectations has not decreased and part of the dam water has been discharged to prevent overflow.

According to Mr. Shariati, “there are problems in some villages of Shushtar, Susangerd, Hoveiza, the margins of Dez and the Karun River, but so far water has not entered the province’s cities”.

He ultimately said: “By carrying out engineering works, we are trying to prevent water from entering the province’s cities, or if it does enter, at least minimize it”.

He emphasized on Sunday: “The reason for our request to the people of these areas to leave their homes is the increase in water discharge from the Karun Dam”.

On Saturday, videos were published on social networks which, according to their publishers, show water overflowing from part of the lateral wall of the Karun Dam.

However, Peyman Jahangiri, the Governor of Andimeshk, called these reports “false” and said that “currently the Karun Dam is stable and its inflow and outflow are managed”.

On Saturday, the overflow of the Karun River also caused water to advance toward the Ahvaz-Andimeshk road.

Officials said that villages west of Karun in Khorramshahr should also be prepared for evacuation.

Since last week, with the forecast of possible flooding in Khuzestan, evacuation orders for Khuzestan cities and villages have been issued in several phases, with the latest case including the evacuation of six cities: Hamidiyeh, Susangerd, Bostan, Abohamiz, Kut Seyednaeym and Rafaee.

According to Hamid Ghayedel, the Red Crescent representative in Khuzestan Province’s flooding, 102 villages in 9 cities of the province have been evacuated.

Mr. Ghayedel also said that 29,414 people from these villages have been temporarily accommodated in 39 camps across 9 cities in Khuzestan Province.

On Sunday, the Ahvaz representative in the Islamic Consultative Assembly said: People in the camps do not have very good conditions; in some cases, three households live in one tent.

Meanwhile, Reza Zeinivand Moghadam, Director General of Education of Lorestan Province, reported the complete destruction of 19 schools in Poldokhtar city in cities and villages due to flooding.

70 Deaths from Flooding

On Saturday, Ahmad Shojaeii, Head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization, announced that 70 people in 13 provinces died from flooding.

According to Mr. Shojaeii, Fars Province with 21 deaths, Lorestan with 15 deaths, and Golestan and Hamadan with 8 deaths each, have the highest numbers of flood casualties.

Based on this report, 6 people died in Mazandaran Province, 3 in North Khorasan, 2 each in Qazvin and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, and 1 each in Razavi Khorasan, Khuzestan, Semnan, Qom and Kermanshah.

Based on the Iran Meteorological Organization’s forecast, a new weather system that entered the country from Friday evening will be active on Saturday and Sunday throughout all Iranian provinces except Hormozgan and Sistan and Baluchestan, but the heaviest rainfall will be in North Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan provinces.

Rouhani Criticizes Issuance of Construction Permits in River Beds

Hassan Rouhani, the President, on Sunday in a ceremony in Tehran called the issuance of construction permits in river beds “trading people’s lives for dirty money”.

He stated: “I raised to Tehran’s mayor the matter of several residential units that have been built in the middle of a river near Tehran, and it is really surprising who, in what way and with how much money gave the permission.”

Mr. Rouhani added: “Although if, God forbid, that corrupt agency has received money, it has bought a great danger to the lives of Tehran residents. This is not just about money, but about exchanging people’s lives for dirty money”.

Meanwhile, according to ISNA news agency, Ali Salehi, the General and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Fars Province’s Central District, announced the summons of a number of “suspected culprits” in the Shiraz flooding incident. He did not provide further explanation but said that supplementary news on this matter would be announced in the future.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Criticizes the United States

On Sunday, Bahram Qasemi, Spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, complaining that the U.S. government has closed the accounts of the Iranian Red Crescent, said: “The U.S. government is responsible for the destructive consequences of Iran’s recent floods.”

He added, however: “As you know, closing the Red Crescent accounts is not possible because it is a humanitarian institution, but ultimately America prevented foreign aid from reaching Iran, whether from Iranian nationals abroad or from other nations.”

Source: Radio Qerda