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ECONOMY
Erbil's Soran district has been blanketed by snow, causing significant material loss. Photo: Rudaw TV
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Erbil’s Soran district was dealt a cold blow on Thursday, as heavy snow fell across the Kurdistan Region.
For many, snow meant taking pictures and rejoicing at the change in weather, but that wasn’t the case for Soran’s car dealers.
The roofs of three car dealerships in the city of Soran in northern Erbil, which saw continuous snowfall on Thursday, collapsed after about forty centimeters of snow had accumulated atop of the metal panel roofing.
Around forty cars were damaged, causing huge financial losses, dealership owners told Rudaw.
Total losses are estimated by the dealers to be anywhere between $400,000 and $500,000.
Fixing the roofs of the car dealerships will cost another $100,000, said the dealers. Many of the cars belonged to different dealers, who stored their cars at dealerships to make their sales.
“Four or five of my cars were damaged. I have lost a lot. I alone have lost around $40,000 to $50,000,” said one dealer.
Speaking to Rudaw, the car dealers acknowledged that the metal roof collapsed partly because it was not sufficiently sturdy.
“The damage was a result of a weather accident, but also has to do with negligence on the part of the person who constructed the metal roofing,” one of the owners told Rudaw.
Another dealer explained that the primary reason for the roofing was to create “shade” especially for the hot summer months - not to handle the weight of snow.
Major Karwan Mirawdaly is head of Soran civil defense’s technical department whose teams were dispatched to aid people affected by the weather.
Mirawdaly told Rudaw that several houses were destroyed by the heavy snowfall, and a car wash roof fell in on three cars.
“Over the course of 12 hours, our teams saved between 35 to 40 cars,and rescued 13 people,” Mirawdaly said.
While speaking to Rudaw, Mirawdaly got word that another car dealership’s metal roof buckled under the pressure of snow, trapping a person.
“This snow is like cotton. This is not an earthquake. [These dealerships] in terms of their infrastructure, don’t match Civil Defense [quality] structural recommendations. I can say many of the structures are not up to standard and clearly haven’t been constructed in consultation with an engineer,” Mirawdaly added, calling on other owners to remove their cars from similar structures to prevent further damage.
Throughout the week, Iraq witnessed unusual amounts of snowfall. Soran and other northern areas of Erbil, which are mostly mountainous, commonly see snow during the winter season, but the capital Baghdad, Mosul in Nineveh, as well as other warmer locations in Iraq saw their first snow in over a decade this week.
For many, snow meant taking pictures and rejoicing at the change in weather, but that wasn’t the case for Soran’s car dealers.
The roofs of three car dealerships in the city of Soran in northern Erbil, which saw continuous snowfall on Thursday, collapsed after about forty centimeters of snow had accumulated atop of the metal panel roofing.
Around forty cars were damaged, causing huge financial losses, dealership owners told Rudaw.
Total losses are estimated by the dealers to be anywhere between $400,000 and $500,000.
Fixing the roofs of the car dealerships will cost another $100,000, said the dealers. Many of the cars belonged to different dealers, who stored their cars at dealerships to make their sales.
“Four or five of my cars were damaged. I have lost a lot. I alone have lost around $40,000 to $50,000,” said one dealer.
Speaking to Rudaw, the car dealers acknowledged that the metal roof collapsed partly because it was not sufficiently sturdy.
“The damage was a result of a weather accident, but also has to do with negligence on the part of the person who constructed the metal roofing,” one of the owners told Rudaw.
Another dealer explained that the primary reason for the roofing was to create “shade” especially for the hot summer months - not to handle the weight of snow.
Major Karwan Mirawdaly is head of Soran civil defense’s technical department whose teams were dispatched to aid people affected by the weather.
Mirawdaly told Rudaw that several houses were destroyed by the heavy snowfall, and a car wash roof fell in on three cars.
“Over the course of 12 hours, our teams saved between 35 to 40 cars,and rescued 13 people,” Mirawdaly said.
While speaking to Rudaw, Mirawdaly got word that another car dealership’s metal roof buckled under the pressure of snow, trapping a person.
“This snow is like cotton. This is not an earthquake. [These dealerships] in terms of their infrastructure, don’t match Civil Defense [quality] structural recommendations. I can say many of the structures are not up to standard and clearly haven’t been constructed in consultation with an engineer,” Mirawdaly added, calling on other owners to remove their cars from similar structures to prevent further damage.
Throughout the week, Iraq witnessed unusual amounts of snowfall. Soran and other northern areas of Erbil, which are mostly mountainous, commonly see snow during the winter season, but the capital Baghdad, Mosul in Nineveh, as well as other warmer locations in Iraq saw their first snow in over a decade this week.
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