Flash Floods In Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Leave Region In Despair

Recent floods have devastated the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, causing massive infrastructural damage leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without critical supplies.

According to Moeineddin Saeedi, the lawmaker representing Chabahar in the Iranian parliament, the floods have "broken the back of the people," with the death toll rising and critical damage to the region's infrastructure, including roads, electricity, and water systems.

He said "transit and rural roads in some districts have been destroyed up to 70 percent, and water has entered many homes." On the ground, activists have reported a higher toll than the government is currently reporting, with at least 18 deaths due to the flash floods, the government announcing around 10.

The situation is worsening as Hossein Zafari, spokesperson for the Crisis Management Organization, disclosed that approximately 300 villages in the south are now cut off, with significant disruptions to their water supply and risk of displacement on the rise. Just last month, over half a million were displaced from the region due to devastating floods. Farmland has been flooded and livestock submerged by the rains battering the area, further jeopardizing the already impoverished population.

Reports from locals and various social media posts have highlighted a delay in government-led rescue operations, with essential aid reaching the affected areas slowly, if at all. This lack of support has led to shortages of water and food, exacerbating the difficulties for those already suffering from the impacts of the second major flood in recent months.

Adding to the dire situation, escaped short-snouted crocodiles from local ponds now pose new threats to the safety of the flood-affected communities.

Critics are blaming the recurring devastation on chronic neglect of infrastructure maintenance, including insufficient river dredging and failing urban water systems in the region which is Iran's poorest and home to nearly million people.

Home to a largely Sunni minority, the Shia government has long neglected the province which has borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.