The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Joint Crisis Coordination (JCC) center in coordination with the Erbil governorate has “started transporting the families whose houses were flooded last Friday,” Karwan Arif said.
Twelve families - 59 people - were transported to hotels inside Erbil city so far, according to Arif. “Any family that wants to evacuate their homes, we are ready to transport them,” he added.
The mayor also called on residents to stay alert tonight due to threats of flooding, and advised those with two-story houses to sleep on the top floor.
Daratu was one of the areas most affected by last week’s flooding in which 12 people died, including three women from the same family when heavy water covered around two meters of their house.
Erbil governor Omed Khoshnaw told Rudaw on Monday that internal security forces (Asayish), police, Peshmerga and civil defense forces will be on standby to rescue civilians in case of floods.
Erbil and Duhok provinces cancelled New Year celebrations out of respect for the victims.
Erbil province often faces severe floods in the colder seasons of the year due to its inadequate water supply distribution network and an unsustainable drainage system.
Last week was the second occurrence of flash flooding this year. Nearly 600 houses suffered material damage in the first strong rainfall of the year in late October. In past years, several neighborhoods of Erbil have been severely impacted by floods.
According to the Municipality and Tourism Ministry on Monday, more than $14 million is needed to compensate for losses caused by the Friday floods in Erbil.
Additional reporting by Hemin Baban Rahim and Shaho Amin
