Last water year (Sept 2018-August 2019) was wet compared to the past 17 dry years. The current year too is billed as wet, managing director of Mahab Ghodss Consulting Engineering Company said.
When drought continues for 17 years, the people and authorities think that when there is little or no rain, there is no risk of flooding and thus no need for contingencies. It so happens that they are caught unawares when rain falls in huge volumes, Nasser Tarkeshdouz was reported as saying by Tasnim News Agency.
Having two successive wet years is a sign of climate change, but it does not mean that it will continue. Nobody can say with a fair degree of accuracy if the next year would be dry or wet, he added.
“Floods last spring reminded the authorities of the role and significance of dams when it comes to flood control,” Tarkeshdouz noted.
Devastating floods swept several provinces across Iran last March and April coinciding with the Persian New Year (Nowrouz) festivities.
Regarding flood forecasts in the beginning of the new year (March 20), he said: “The volume of rainfall this year exceeds the long-term average. We have also had significant amounts of snowfall. With the weather getting warmer, the snow will gradually melt.
So far, 190 mm of rainfall has been recorded in the country, which is nearly 13% more than the long-term average.
According to Iran Meteorological Organization, more rainfall is expected in the coming weeks, which together with the melting snow, can result in floods in some regions.
Dams Almost Half Empty
Given the empty capacity of dams, especially the larger ones (built to contain floodwaters), the country seems better prepared to control the potential deluge in the coming weeks.
Dams across the country have a capacity to hold 50 billion cubic meters of water, of which 40% are empty.
Heavy rainfall last March and April killed 70 people and overflew rivers, washed away bridges, inundated houses and destroyed critical infrastructure in Kermanshah, Fars, Lorestan, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Golestan, Mazandaran, North Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Hamedan, Semnan and Khuzestan inflicting 350 trillion rials ($2.5 billion) in damages.
In the past months, regions in the south have been struggling high rainfall. Widespread flooding hit southern Bushehr and southwestern Khuzestan provinces and Hormozgan between October and December 2019.
In January torrential rainfall in Hormozgan, Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces damaged homes, bridges, power and water infrastructure, flooded streets, blocked roads and displaced people.
With three decades of successful presence on the national and international stage and more than 2,000 major infrastructure projects, Mahab Ghodss offers a wide range of engineering services for building dams, hydropower plants, irrigation and drainage systems, river engineering, water treatment plants, wastewater collection systems and recycling plants.
It has undertaken projects in over 25 countries including Oman, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Equatorial Guinea, Qatar, Albania and Germany.
