Following Deadly Flood, Criticism of Meteorological Organization in Tehran City Council

A member of the Tehran City Council pointed out how the World Meteorological Organization can forecast Iran's weather from the other side of the world, while Iran's Meteorological Organization is 'incapable' of doing so, stating that this organization should apologize to the people. Eghbal Shakri, head of the Urban Development Committee of the Tehran City Council, criticized Iran's Meteorological Organization on Friday, August 2, in an interview with ISNA, saying: 'The negligence of the country's meteorology and the lack of crisis management preparedness during the flood and storm incident on Sunday is evident, and this organization has failed to announce the storm incident.' He continued by stating that the global meteorological website publishes 10-day and even one-year weather forecasts for various regions of the world, saying: 'It is regrettable that the global meteorological website provides so many services, but Iran's Meteorological Organization is incapable of predicting the weather for the next 48 hours.' Mr. Shakri added: 'I reviewed the printout of the weather status announced by the Meteorological Organization to the Crisis Management Organization and Tehran Municipality and noticed that this organization announced the wind speed on Sunday as 40 kilometers per hour, while the actual wind speed was 77.8 kilometers per hour.' The head of the Urban Development Committee of the Tehran City Council pointed out that officials of Iran's Meteorological Organization did not even bother to check the global meteorological website, stating: 'According to the printout from the Meteorological Organization on Sunday, scattered dust was announced, while the global meteorological website predicted a storm for Tehran and northern regions that day.' Additionally, according to Mr. Shakri, on Sunday, the Iranian Meteorological Organization announced 'scattered dust,' while the global meteorological website reported visibility due to severe dust as '100 meters.' The city council member further noted that many victims of this incident were caught off guard, saying: 'At the very least, the officials of the Crisis Management and Meteorological Organization could have provided accurate information after the incident occurred, which they also failed to do.' Part of the remarks from the head of the Urban Development Committee of the Tehran City Council also addressed comments made a few days earlier by the head of Iran's Meteorological Organization. Mr. Shakri responded to the head of the Meteorological Organization, who rejected his statements regarding the 'global meteorological website's prediction about the storm in Tehran,' stating that 'this person's remarks are completely false.' Davood Parhizgar, head of Iran's Meteorological Organization, rejected the criticisms regarding the 'incorrect' predictions of this organization during a television program after the storm and flood incident. Following the flood incident on Sunday, criticisms arose regarding the 'incorrect' predictions of the Meteorological Organization and the lack of communication from the police to vehicles intending to travel to northern provinces of Iran. Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesperson for Iran's Emergency Services, stated that 'despite the incorrect information sent to us by the Meteorological Organization, we immediately dispatched all emergency response fleets to the affected areas, but due to heavy traffic and the poor performance of the police in clearing the route, they were unable to arrive on time.' Jalaal Maleki, spokesperson for Tehran's Fire Department, also announced that 'no notification' was made through the Meteorological Organization regarding the incident on Sunday, and this organization learned about the incident through 'public calls.' However, Davood Parhizgar, head of the National Meteorological Organization, called the Emergency Services' claims 'baseless' and emphasized that the reports sent by his organization to the responsible agencies predicted the storm speed as 60 kilometers.