Rainfall causes floods in parts of drought-stricken Iran

DUBAI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Rainfall caused floods in parts of western Iran on Monday, after months of drought led to the worst water crisis in decades and pushed authorities to begin cloud seeding over the weekend.

The country's meteorological organisation issued a warning for flooding in six western provinces for Monday and said it expected rain in 18 out of Iran's 31 provinces.

Rainfall levels across Iran are 85% below average, depleting reservoirs and causing taps to run dry including in parts of the capital, Tehran.

Mismanagement, illegal well drilling and inefficient agricultural practices have contributed to the crisis, which authorities say has also been intensified by climate change.

Prolonged and extreme dry conditions increase the risk of flash floods as droughts decrease the soil's ability to absorb water.

Iranian media shared videos of mild floods occurring in some towns of western provinces such as Ilam and Kurdistan.

On Saturday, Iran was able to perform its first cloud seeding this year above the watershed of Lake Urmia, in Iran's northwest and further north from the areas where flooding was reported, according to the Young Journalists Club (YJC).

Cloud-seeding is a process in which chemicals are implanted into clouds to increase rainfall in an environment where water scarcity is a concern.

However, the technique can only be applied when environmental conditions improve and can only be used as a stopgap solution.

"In addition to cloud seeding's heavy cost, the amount of rainfall it produces is nowhere near what is needed to solve our water crisis," Sahar Tajbakhsh, head of Iran's Meteorological Organisation, told state TV on Sunday.

YJC's report added that conditions are not yet present for cloud seeding in Tehran, which officials said may soon be uninhabitable if the drought gripping the country continues.

Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Aidan Lewis