ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Baghdad International Airport experienced a brief power cut on Friday, caused by heavy rainfall and thunderstorms that engulfed the country.
The airport cut power for about 10 minutes as a safety measure during a heavy downpour, an airport official told Rudaw’s Ziyad Ismail on the condition of anonymity.
Days of heavy rains have caused flooding in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
On Friday morning, in the town of Kalar in the Garmiyan administration, the water level rose by nearly half a meter according to residents. A health center was damaged and families evacuated their homes.
The day prior in the Region’s capital Erbil, heavy rain and floods caused material damage. The spokesperson for Erbil Defense Directorate said that around 40 vehicles had been submerged.
Amer al-Jabiri, the head of media and communication of the Iraqi Meteorological Organization, told Rudaw that the “heavy rainfall is expected to ease off in central and southern provinces on Saturday.”
However, in the Kurdistan Region, the rain is expected to last until Sunday.
No casualties have been reported due to the bad weather.
The rains have boosted levels in dams and reservoirs, but the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Begard Talabani warned that a summer drought is still a possibility. “We still need to harvest more rainwater,” she said earlier this week.
Iraq is among the most vulnerable nations to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity.
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