Rescue teams search for the dead bodies of people killed by flooding in Qaradagh on May 3, 2024. Photo: Social media
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Flooding water swept away four people in Sulaimani province’s Qaradagh town on Friday, killing all of them, according to the mayor.
Rauf Kamal, mayor of Qaradagh, told Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtyar, that four hikers from Sulaimani city had visited Awa Sowe village in Qaradagh district but fell into flooding water on Friday. All of them were killed. Their bodies have been recovered.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani expressed his condolences for the death of the hikers in a post on X, calling on people to be cautious as the bad weather could cause similar incidents.
A new wave of downpour has hit Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in recent days, causing flash floods in many cities.
Many neighborhoods in Erbil were severely hit by flash floods on Friday.
A pregnant woman was killed in Erbil province’s Kore subdistrict on Wednesday after flooding caused a wall to fall on her as she was trying to rush to a safe spot.
Kurdistan Region's meteorology department has been warning in recent days about a new wave of rainfall in the Kurdistan Region.
Rising water levels and flash floods during the rainy seasons of fall and winter have become a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region in recent years, at times reaching disastrous levels and resulting in casualties and great damage.
Flash floods killed two people in Duhok last month.
A wave of deadly and destructive floods swept through the Kurdistan Region in late 2021 and early 2022, with the Kurdish capital of Erbil bearing the brunt of the heavy rainstorms. At least 826 families were affected by the floods, which killed twelve people, including a ten-month-old baby.
The Ministry of Municipality and Tourism at the time assessed the cost of damages caused by the second flood as more than 21 billion dinars (over $14 million).
Updated at 9:47 pm
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