Erbil Airport suspends flights due to sand storm
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Erbil International Airport (EIA) suspended all flights on Thursday due to the thick sand storm hitting the Kurdistan Region.
All flights to and from the EIA were suspended due to low visibility caused by the sand storm that began battering the Kurdistan Region early Thursday, EIA Director Ahmed Hoshyar told Kurdistan 24.
The flights will resume as soon as the weather conditions permits, Hoshyar added.
Due to the intensively dusty weather, officials in Mosul announced a day off on Thursday across the Iraqi province.
In early March, one person died as a result of a dust storm in Iraq. Another 1,000 more people were hospitalized.
Increased desertification in Iraq in recent years has contributed to an uptick in such storms. Iraqi officials expect further increases in the dusty weather in the coming years.
An intense dust storm has hit the Kurdistan Region's capital Erbil, significantly reducing visibility in the city.
— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) April 7, 2022
📸Rebaz Siyan/Kurdistan 24 pic.twitter.com/II78YqFH5k
On Tuesday, Essa Raheem Dakheel Al-Fayadh, the Director-General at the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment, warned that Iraq will experience a vast increase in the number of dust storms in the country in the next 20 years.
Read More: Iraq will experience mass increase in dust storms in the next 20 years: Iraqi official
Ranked as the fifth most vulnerable country by the United Nations to the adverse effects of climate change, Iraq has already begun to witness a few of the looming threats of the change, including low precipitation, droughts, decreased wheat production, and water scarcity.