Following a summer of drought, Erbil had its first intense rain of the season on Saturday. Several houses suffered material damage, and stalling vehicles blocked flooded main roads.
Neighborhoods close to the city’s 150 Meter Road and on the road itself on the way to Pirmam, a town about 33 km northeast of Erbil, became main subjects of the flooding. Erbil police said the city had taken precautions, but flooding in some neighborhoods exceeded their expectations.
Sarkawt Karash, spokesperson for Erbil’s civil protection units, told Rudaw that they receive daily four-hour-advance updates from the weather forecasting department.
“What was unexpected for us was the flooding in Zerin neighborhood and Kore village,” he said, “which sadly has risen a lot on the 150-meter road and has completely covered the street.”
Cars stuck on Erbil’s 150 meter street as the street was flooded. Source: Rudaw
Karash has reported no casualties so far, but said that several neighborhoods have sustained material damage.
Several people were initially stuck on the 150-meter road, saying that they had received calls from their families saying that their houses were flooded. In some residential areas, civil protection units had to help people affected by the flood through helicopters.
Videos submitted to Rudaw show civil security units arrive at Erbil’s residential Zerin city using helicopter to control the flooding.
Erbil’s governor, Omed Khoshnaw, called on people to stay away from streets prone to flooding.
“Our teams have been sent around, and I am personally supervising the process, but I ask people to not drive to the places with floods,” Khoshnaw told Rudaw.
Hamid Ismael, mayor of Pirmam, told Rudaw that the situation is partially under control, but that the town has seen material damage as well as electricity and internet outages in some areas.
Erbil province often faces severe floods in the colder seasons of the year. In the past years, several neighborhoods of Erbil have faced severe damages due to floods.
This year’s flood came as the Kurdistan Region faced a record dry year, with several lakes and rivers drying up and thousands of crops damaged.
Additional reporting by Dilnia Rahman, Hadi Salimi, Shahyan Tahseen, Hevidar Zana
