Basra directorate denies claims of tidal flooding

BASRA — Basra’s Water Resources Directorate has rejected social media claims that a severe sea tide flooded large areas of southern Basra, saying the governorate has not been affected by changes in the ocean.

Videos and posts had claimed unusually high tides inundated parts of southern Basra as El Niño strengthens. The directorate said one farmer had claimed tidal water damaged his land in order to obtain free use of an excavator on his property.

El Niño is a pattern of unusually warm surface water in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific that can affect weather elsewhere. Pacific surface temperatures at the peak reached about 2 to 2.5°C above normal, with further warming possible in October and November, said Sadiq Atiyah of the Iraqi Meteorological Organization and Seismology, who said the World Meteorological Organization has linked it to flooding and drought in several countries.

It has no direct or fixed effect on Iraq, Atiyah said, though previous occurrences have shown possible influences. Seasonal forecasts also weigh the Indian Ocean Dipole, which can raise temperatures in the western Arabian Sea and bring tropical moisture toward the Red Sea low-pressure system, and the North Atlantic Oscillation, which can push low-pressure systems from northern Europe toward the Mediterranean, the Levant and Iraq. Taken together with preliminary forecast maps, the coming season looks promising for Iraq, he said.