Iraq’s south cuts government work hours as scorching summer heat hits

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Government offices in two southern provinces of Iraq on Wednesday reduced working hours due to rising summer heat in the cities, which suffer from significant power outages, state media reported.

Offices in Karbala province opened at 8 a.m. and closed at 1 p.m., the Iraqi News Agency said, with officials citing the high temperature. Babil province issued a similar directive to all its government offices.

The six-hour workday will be in effect until August 1. 

In addition to rising temperature, Iraq suffers from lack of water, significantly reduced this year due to little rainfall over the previous winter.

Waterflow from Iraq’s two main rivers – Tigris and Euphrates – which both originate from Turkey, is down due to heavy construction of dams needed to generate electricity. The country’s agricultural and horticulture sectors have already begun to suffer from the reduced water levels.

At least four southern provinces – Basra, Samawah, Maysan, Dhi Qar – suffered complete power outages on Tuesday, although authorities said the reason was unknown. Electricity minister Majid Mahdi Hantoush later resigned. 

The outages come as Iran drastically reduced gas and electricity exports to Iraq, which relies heavily on its neighbor to keep the lights on. Baghdad owes Tehran some $4 billion for energy but is largely unable to pay due to its economic struggles and the difficulty of sending money to the Islamic republic around US sanctions.