Erbil allocates $3,000 for families affected by Saturday's flash floods; repair of nearly 600 houses

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Erbil Governor Omid Khoshnaw announced on Thursday that emergency funds have been allocated to provide each family significantly affected by Saturday's flash flooding in some residential areas within the Kurdistan Region's capital province.

Khoshnaw said in a press conference that the devastation caused by the flooding that followed a 12-hour torrential rainstorm amounted to roughly 6 billion Iraqi dinars (just over $4 million).

According to the latest government assessment, a total of 591 houses were affected with 143 of them having sustained structural damage.

"We have decided to compensate each affected family with $3,000, noting that all damaged homes will be rehabilitated again."

He also raised the current tally of vehicles damaged to 149, explaining that they will be classified into three categories whose owners will be compensated according to the extent of the destruction.

Read More: Saturday’s flash floods destroyed 130 cars in Erbil: Official

Khoshnaw noted that the number of people affected by the floods has increased, indicating that the damage has affected public property and should be rehabilitated from the budget of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

He said that the provincial government will begin disbursing compensation on Saturday, just one week after the flooding.

Furthermore, the KRG also decided to spend an additional 500 million Iraqi dinars in compensation for those whose property sustained less severe damage.