On Saturday, heavy rain fell in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, which caused flooding of many city streets, the same thing happened in areas of central Iraq, Al-Hurra correspondent reports.
He said that heavy rain in the capital was the first time since 2019.
The rain flooded the capital’s main streets, and pictures circulated on communication sites show rainwater entering the Numan government hospital in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district.
So Baghdad Mayor Ammar Musa Kazem issued an urgent directive on rainwater diversion on Saturday.
The Baghdad Municipality said in a statement released by the Iraqi News Agency that “Kazem has instructed all municipal departments to mobilize their mechanical and human efforts to drain rainwater that fell at dawn on Saturday with a force of 31 mm, stressing that punitive measures have been taken and a number of negligent officials”.
For its part, the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources reported on Saturday a rise in the level of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers after a wave of rain.
Ministry spokesman Hatem Hamid told the Iraqi news agency that “the percentage of rain differed from one province to another”, noting that “according to the readings recorded at the rain station in the Kut Dam project, the percentage reached 67 mm. “
Hamid added that “there is a slight rise in the level of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers as a result of rainfall”, noting that “all the water collected in the cities is discharged into the rivers by the Ministry of Construction, Housing, Municipalities and Public Works.”
He pointed out that “all departments under the Ministry of Water Resources have been instructed to cooperate with departments under the jurisdiction of municipalities in governorates to eliminate street bottlenecks due to rain.”
