A heavy rainstorm hit the Kurdish capital in the early hours of Friday, causing significant flooding, material damage, and the loss of lives in several districts and neighborhoods.
Erbil Mayor Nabaz Abdulhamid raised the number of deaths from eight to eleven, noting that a Turkish national and a Filipino were among the fatalities.
Abdulhamid did not disclose further details about the victims, saying “their names and identities will be announced later.”
Muddy waters swept into people’s homes in Erbil's Daratu, Qushtapa, Shamamk, Zhyan, Roshinbiri and Bahrka areas in the early hours of the morning, flooding individuals out of their houses.
Daratu and Qushtapa districts are the most affected areas by the flooding, according to the mayor.
Three women from the same family died in Daratu when the heavy water covered around two meters of their house.
The body of the ten-month-old infant Danar Nabaz in Qushtapa remains missing. His father told Rudaw earlier that Danar fell from his arms as he was trying to help his three other children.
Houses, cars, shops, and markets in both districts were harshly hit in the flood, but final statistics on the damages have not yet been released.
Erbil suffers from an inadequate water supply distribution network and an unsustainable drainage system. Sewers often overflow, leading to sewage escaping and mixing with stormwater.
The amount of rain that fell in the city was described as “unexpected” by officials and residents.
Fifty-nine millimeters of rain have fallen in Erbil overnight, Head of the Region’s General Directorate of Meteorology and Seismology Fazel Ebrahim told Rudaw.
The directorate on Friday noon warned of another wave of rain that is expected to hit Koya town and its outskirts in the northeast of Erbil as well as Garmiyan administration.
The Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani tweeted on Friday that he was “deeply saddened by the loss of lives and damage caused by last night’s heavy rain and flood,” and has instructed government agencies to provide immediate support and relief to areas affected.
On Friday afternoon, Barzani chaired a meeting with Erbil officials and local agencies to discuss the “government’s rescue efforts and relief needs,” he said in a tweet.
Erbil province often faces severe floods in the colder seasons of the year. Nearly 600 houses suffered material damage and stalling vehicles blocked flooded main roads in its first strong rainfall of the year in late October.
In the past years, several neighborhoods of Erbil have faced severe damages due to floods.
