Heavy rainfall and floods hit several Iraqi provinces, at least three dead

A mother and her two children were killed in a village of Kirkuk province early Thursday as a wave of heavy rainfalls hit the country from early Wednesday until Thursday noon, causing heavy floods across several provinces, including the capital city of Baghdad.

"Unfortunately early today, a mud-built house in Bajwan village, located between Kirkuk and Dibis district, collapsed due to heavy rainfalls. Consequently, a mother and her two children died," an official from the office of Kirkuk acting governor Rakan Saeed told The New Arab.

Amir al-Jabiri, head of media at Iraq's Weather Commission, told Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Wednesday that heavy rainfalls hit Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf, Wasit, Salahaddin and Anbar provinces.

امطار غزيرة تجتاح مناطق  واسعة في العراق وامانة العاصمة بغداد تعلن حالة الانذار القصوى للتعامل مع حالات الفيضان وديالى وصلاح الدين تعطلان الدوام الرسمي فيهما على خلفية اشتداد موجة الامطار. pic.twitter.com/bCxLkRTvOJ

— Dr. Haider Salman (@sahaider75) March 8, 2023

Local authorities in Salahaddin and Diyala provinces in central Iraq announced that Thursday is an off-day due to heavy rainfall.

The Iraqi National News Center reported that a fourth preparatory class pupil died in Khalis's district of Diyala province because of an electric shock following heavy rainfall. 

Kurdish authorities in Sulaimaniyah and Halabja provinces in the northern Kurdistan region also announced Thursday as a vacation for all public schools and universities.

Floods in the province have caused damage to many houses, public hospitals and electricity towers.    

Moreover, Sulaimaniyah weather officials said more than 100 millimetres of rain have fallen in the past 24 hours in the province.

Officials in the Iraqi ministry of water resources have told state media that the heavy rainfalls have increased the country's strategic water reserves and will boost the local rivers and water resources.

On her part, Iraq's minister of migration and displacement ordered all ministry employees in the Kurdistan region, Nineveh and Anbar provinces to offer support and help all locally displaced peoples in those provinces due to the heavy rainfalls.

According to the United Nations, Iraq is the fifth most vulnerable country in the world impacted by the climate crisis, which includes low rainfalls, repeated sandstorms and increased desertification due to severe drought caused by dams built by neighbouring Iran and Turkey. 

Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates rivers witnessed a sharp decrease in water levels in the south of the country, officials said on Sunday and pledged to implement urgent measures to ease water shortages.