Heatwave causes water shortages in Iran as temps top 50C
The national meteorological service said Iran is experiencing its hottest week of the year so far with temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in some areas.
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani announced in a post on X on Sunday that Tehran province would observe a public holiday on Wednesday because of the ongoing heatwave.
'In light of the continued extreme heat and the necessity of conserving water and electricity, Wednesday … has been declared a holiday in Tehran province,' she wrote.
Temperatures in Tehran reached 40C (104F) on Sunday with a further rise to 41C (106F) forecast for Monday, according to meteorological reports.
Impact of climate change
Water scarcity is a major issue in Iran, particularly in arid provinces in the country's south, with shortages blamed on mismanagement and overexploitation of underground resources, as well as the growing impact of climate change.
Tehran city council chair Mehdi Chamran urged people to 'conserve water to avoid drops in supplies', according to the ISNA news agency.
Authorities across Iran have issued similar appeals in recent days, asking residents in several provinces to limit water usage.
Tehran's provincial water management company called for usage to be reduced by 'at least 20 percent' to help ease the shortages.
In a statement, it said 'the reservoirs of the dams supplying water to Tehran are currently at their lowest level in a century', following years of steady decline in rainfall.
Javan, a conservative newspaper, reported on Saturday that authorities reduced water supplies in parts of the capital in a bid to mitigate the crisis, resulting in 'water outages lasting between 12 and 18 hours' in some areas.
Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi apologised on Sunday for reduced water supplies, saying the move comes 'to better manage resources'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Photos: Greece battles major wildfires amid persistent heatwave
Published On 27 Jul 2025 27 Jul 2025 Greek emergency services are battling numerous wildfires as a weeklong heatwave peaked with temperatures surpassing 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Fires were still raging on Sunday morning in the Peloponnese area west of the capital, Athens, as well as on the islands of Evia and Kythera, with planes and helicopters resuming their work in several parts of the country at dawn. According to firefighters, one of the most difficult fronts was around Drosopigi in northern Attica, just 30km (18.6 miles) north of Athens. Authorities called for an evacuation of the village, while, according to state-run Ertnews TV, a house was already alight in Drosopigi, as winds of 5 to 6 Beaufort (in the range of 30-50km/h or 19-31mph) raged. Authorities on Saturday warned of an extreme risk of wildfires, placing several regions under a red Category 5 alert, the highest on the national scale, due to hot and dry conditions. A heatwave in Greece that began last Monday was expected to last until this Monday, according to the country's meteorological service. The National Observatory in Athens said the warmest temperature recorded on Friday was 45.8C ( 114.5F) in the Peloponnese region of Messinia. On Saturday, the temperature reached 45.2C (113.4F) in Amfilochia, western Greece. About 100 firefighters were battling the blaze near Drosopigi with 36 vehicles, two aeroplanes and three helicopters, according to the Athens News Agency. On the island of Evia near the Attica region of Athens, a fire was also raging out of control. Two fire engines were destroyed while two firefighters were taken to hospital with minor injuries. A wildfire that broke out shortly before 9:30am (06:30 GMT) on Saturday in an agricultural and forested area on the island of Kythera in southern Greece was also out of control. Strong winds are causing the fire to spread rapidly and prompting evacuations of several settlements. Greece has sought assistance from the European Union to battle the wildfires.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Pakistan issues glacial floods alert for northwest, heavy rain forecast
Pakistan has issued a warning about glacial flooding in the northwest with more rain forecast in the coming week, as the country experiences above-average rainfall this monsoon season and continues to struggle to recover from devastating floods in 2022. Downpours are heavier in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province than the same period last year, prompting weather advisories and alerts for flooding from glacial lake outbursts, said Anwar Shahzad, a spokesperson for the local disaster management authority, on Saturday. The weather advisory alert comes after the authority sent out a letter earlier this month saying 'persistent high temperatures may accelerate snow and glacier melt and subsequent weather events' in vulnerable parts of the region, underscoring the ongoing heavy impact of climate change on the country. Spokesperson Faizullah Firaq said on Saturday there was 'severe destruction' in some areas and damage to houses, infrastructure, crops, and businesses. Search operations were under way to find missing people on the Babusar Highway, where flooding struck nine villages. Helicopters rescued tourists stuck in the popular spot, Fairy Meadows, he added. Abdul Samad, from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Department, said rescue teams evacuated more than 500 holidaymakers from Naran after a cloudburst overnight Friday caused a road closure. Authorities deployed heavy machinery to remove debris and restore access. In the neighbouring Gilgit-Baltistan region, the government said it had distributed hundreds of tents, thousands of food packets, and medicine to flood-affected communities. Three people died there on Tuesday when a cloudburst caused floods and landslides, stranding more than 200 tourists who were later rescued. Zakir Hussein, director general of Gilgit-Baltistan's Disaster Management Authority, said on Tuesday that while warnings help reduce the presence of tourists in these vulnerable areas, they are not always enough. 'Generally, tourists pay attention to our warning notices. Those who still choose to come are either those who did not see the warning or those who have some urgency to visit,' Hussein told Al Jazeera. 'At the end of the day, it is weather prediction, but considering the severity of the consequences, people should take it seriously.' The rains are a routine part of South Asia's climate and are essential for crop irrigation and replenishing water supplies. However, their adverse effect has worsened in recent years due to rapid urban expansion, poor drainage systems, and more frequent extreme weather events linked to climate change. Pakistan's above-average rainfall this monsoon season has raised concerns of a repeat of the devastating 2022 floods that submerged a third of the country, killed 1,737 people and displaced more than 30 million. Some 260 have died across Pakistan so far this season, which runs through to mid-September. Pakistan, which has a population of about 250 million, is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate change, but one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. It is also home to more than 7,000 glaciers – the largest outside the Earth's polar regions.
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Al Jazeera
China experiences record number of hot days since March
The number of high-temperature days China has experienced since mid-March is the highest on record, an official from the China Meteorological Administration said. The administration said on Wednesday that 152 national weather observatories in China have recorded temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) since mid-July. It also sent an alert to the country's power industry to take timely response measures to handle a surge in power consumption as people turn to air conditioning and fans to tackle the soaring temperatures. Last week, sweltering heat stretched from the densely populated city of Chongqing in the southwest of the country to Guangzhou on the coast, enveloping an area that is home to more than 200 million people. In some parts of the central provinces of Hubei and Hunan, which are the same size as Italy and the United Kingdom, apparent temperatures, which is a measure of how hot the combination of heat, humidity and wind makes people feel, were forecast to reach as high as 50C (122F) last week. Equivalent apparent temperatures were also expected in the southern provinces of Jiangxi and Guangdong – home to populations equal to the total of Spain and Mexico. China's Sanfu season — an agricultural marker denoting the peak of summer and believed to have been in use for more than two millennia — typically begins in mid-July and lasts through late August. This year it is forecast to run until August 19. Besides making life uncomfortable, scorching croplands and eroding farm incomes in China, higher temperatures can also affect manufacturing hubs and disrupt operations at key ports, as well as strain overburdened healthcare services. As the world's second most populous country, China has been the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases annually since overtaking the United States in 2006. But it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060, as part of global efforts to curb the most extreme effects of climate change.
