High and dry
Northern Oman has just been battered by Cyclone Shaheen, the first tropical cyclone to make it that far west into the Gulf. Around Basra in southern Iraq this summer, pressure on the grid owing to 50C heat led to constant blackouts, with residents driving around in their cars to stay cool.
Kuwait broke the record for the hottest day ever at 53.6C in 2016, and its 10-day rolling average this summer was equally sweltering. Flash floods occurred in Jeddah and, more recently, in Mecca, while across Saudi Arabia average temperatures have increased by 2%, and the maximum temperatures by 2.5%, all since the 1980s.
In Tehran, air pollution kills 4,000 people each year while, in Iran’s southwest province of Khuzestan, citizens blocked roads and burned tyres to protest against droughts caused by a combination of mismanagement, western sanctions and killer heat. In the United Arab Emirates it is estimated that the climate crisis costs $8.2bn a year in higher health costs.
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