ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Duhok’s governor said on Saturday that houses illegally built on waterways and floodplains were the primary cause of flooding that killed three people this week.
“The main cause of the flood was houses built illegally over the waterway,” Governor Ali Tatar told journalists during a press conference to provide the latest developments about the aftermath of the flood.
According to Tatar, the illegal structures “will be demolished and their owners will be compensated.”
A torrential downpour battered central Duhok city and its suburbs starting on Monday evening and lasting through Tuesday, causing flooding in many areas. Rainwater swept through houses and shops, causing material damage. Three people were killed.
The province got more than 200 millimeters of rain in just a few days. “This is the first time that such a large amount of rain has fallen in Duhok in such a short time,” Tatar said.
At the request of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani, the governor said they have purchased 117 apartment units and handed over their keys to flood victims.
A committee headed by the central mayor has been formed to visit the damaged neighborhoods and make an accurate account of the damage.
Tatar said that everyone will be compensated before the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in the second week of April and “if someone is forgotten, they will also be compensated after verifying their damage.”
The flooding caused about seven billion dinars in damage, Pir Dayyan Pir Khdir, the head of Duhok’s disaster response agency, told Rudaw Radio’s Mohammed Rahim Karim on Saturday.
Pir Khdir said that his agency brought 1,040 people to 11 hotels in Duhok and teams are now cleaning houses that suffered the least amount of damage.
Flash floods during the rainy fall and winter seasons have become a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region in recent years, at times reaching disastrous levels, leading to deaths and large amounts of damage.
Updated at 11:12 pm
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