Flood Strikes Neglected Northern Iran, Five People Missing

A flood has hit northern Iran on Tuesday evening, leaving five people missing and 24 injured.

The flood, triggered by severe rainfall that began Tuesday afternoon, resulted in the overflow of the Telar River and subsequent flooding in the area of Savadkuh, Mazandaran province.

The event caused extensive damage to roads, infrastructure, residential homes, and farmlands in an area already suffering desperate poverty.

Gholamali Fakhari, the head of the Red Crescent Society in Mazandaran, said Wednesday afternoon that the number of people missing has increased to five.

Earlier, he had confirmed that a 15-year-old girl and a 45-year-old woman are missing and rescue operations underway in the area.

The General Directorate of Crisis Management in Mazandaran recorded between 40 to 60 millimeters of rain in less than one hour. An alert for heavy rainfall and potential flooding had been issued prior to the disaster.

The flood follows closely on the heels of severe floods earlier this month when the Red Crescent Society reported 13 provinces had been affected, including Esfahan, Tehran, Semnan, Zanjan, Qazvin, and East Azerbaijan.

In May, floods in Khorasan Razavi province resulted in at least seven deaths, and prior to that, flooding in Sistan-Baluchestan also suffered from floods that resulted in at least 18 deaths and disappearances.

Critics blame the Islamic Republic's persistent neglect of essential infrastructure, the failure to dredge rivers adequately, and the lack of a proper urban water channel system as primary contributors to the repetitive cycle of devastating floods.