After floods, Kurdistan leaders pledge $2.52 million in emergency funds
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Senior officials from the Kurdistan Region pledged on Thursday to provide three billion Iraqi dinars ($2.52 million) in emergency relief for families in the cities of Duhok and Zakho who sustained property or other damage from devastating flash floods that swept through the area over the past two days.
Duhok province has been experiencing heavy rains since Monday, which caused a rise in the water level in rivers and around population centers. This led to surprise flash floods that damaged some 400 homes, dozens of vehicles, and hundreds of shops, in addition to killing two individuals in Zakho district.
Read More: Heavy rainfall, flash floods cause severe damage in Duhok governorate
A statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said that it had “allocated two billion Iraqi dinars as compensation for the families severely affected by the flood in Duhok and Zakho city.”
The other one billion dinars were pledged in a statement released by the office of Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Region
According to initial reports, the heavy rain also resulted in the collapse of four small bridges connecting the city of Duhok to other districts. On Wednesday evening, civil defense teams in Duhok rescued 21 families as flash floods swamped their houses while a dozen other citizens were extracted from vehicles they had been unable to escape from on their own.
Post-rain floods are a perennial issue in the country as a whole, caused in large part by chronically inadequate infrastructure, including inefficient or poorly maintained urban rainwater management and sewage systems.
Local media has also reported that flooding further south in the disputed town of Baquba, located in Diyala province, resulted in significant damage and the death of five displaced females.
The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health on Thursday confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the province of Duhok.
Read More: Kurdistan confirms first case of COVID-19 in Duhok province
The infected person in Duhok is reportedly a 50-year-old man who recently returned from Germany, the Ministry announced in a statement without providing further details.
The ministry has so far confirmed 40 cases of the coronavirus in total and one fatality amid multiple KRG precautionary measures enacted to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the region such as temporarily closing schools, declaring extended public holidays for government employees, and canceling all religious services and other public gatherings.
A delegation headed by regional Interior Minister Reber Ahmad will visit multiple areas within Duhok province on Friday to assess the rules and regulations needed to prevent the spread of the disease.
The novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, has infected 192 people across Iraq including the Kurdistan Region.
Editing by John J. Catherine