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Powerful flash floods and heavy rainfall have battered northern Iraq since Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring several others, according to the Iraqi News Agency, as rescue teams work to locate missing residents and evacuate affected families.
The agency confirmed that torrential flooding in several areas of Sulaymaniyah province and also in Kirkuk province in the north disrupted traffic and inundated some homes.
The disaster hit several areas with a wave of powerful flash flooding that left at least two people dead and five others missing, amid extensive efforts by the army and police to rescue families trapped by rising waters.
Despite warnings from Iraqi authorities about heavy rains followed by strong floods, some of which originated from Iranian territory, the country’s weak infrastructure and lack of preparedness often contribute to recurring human and material losses with every rainy season.
According to Iraqi security sources, two bodies, those of a young man and an elderly man, were recovered in the town of Chamchamal in Sulaymaniyah province in the north of the country.
One victim died when his house collapsed after being struck by the floods, while the other was a young man whose car was swept away and who was unable to escape.
Kirkuk province, meanwhile, reported the evacuation of dozens of homes in various villages due to the flooding, most notably in the Wadi al-Shay area southwest of the city.
An Interior Ministry security official told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that reports had been filed about people missing after their car was swept away by the floods, adding that search operations were underway in both Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah.
For his part, the district administrator of Laylan in Kirkuk, Mohammed al-Moussawi, confirmed that Iraqi security forces rescued seven families who had been trapped by the floods on Tuesday evening, according to statements he made to reporters.
The continued heavy rainfall across northern Iraq, particularly in Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk, as well as Salah al-Din and Diyala, triggered a wave of devastating floods that submerged hundreds of homes and government buildings and caused extensive damage.
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