Flood in the South-West of Iran in 2019; Causes, Problems, Actions and Lesson Learned

Extreme rain in January in Lorestan, Ilam, Kermanshah and Khuzestan provinces; led to the overflow of the catchment areas of Dez, Karun, Karkheh, Maroon and Zohreh dams. According to the estimates, 12775 million cubic meters of water entered the catchment areas of aforementioned dams from the 1st till the 10th of January 2019. In the 8th of January 2019, a great flood occurred in most regions of Khuzestan province. This flood led to the occurrence of extreme torrent and vast inundation in different regions and villages of Ahvaz, Shush, Dasht Azadegan, Hoveyzeh, Dezful and Shushtar, as well as increasing the water level of Karun, Dez and Karkheh rivers. These areas are the raining system located in the northern and the southern parts of Khuzestan province. Owning to the emancipation of Dez river water, this flood over flew and caused many damages to agricultural lands and residential areas of the north of Khuzestan. Broken flood protectors and lack of attention to their repairing and reconstruction by Khuzestan water and power authority led to the occurrence of flood in various villages of the province, and caused damages to the agricultural lands. Overall, the main causes of this phenomenon included: 1. Long lasting droughts and sedimentation during previous 5 years, 2. Building construction in rural and agricultural lands, revegetation basins and other human actions along rivers, 3. Reduction of the capacity of Hourol Azim marshes of Bamdezh due to various other human interventions and excavation activities, and 4. Destruction of flood protectors for having more access to water during drought