ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Local authorities in Iraq’s western Anbar province on Tuesday declared a three-day state of alert over an imminent flood threat from Syria, the province’s council said, as Damascus has for days been warning of rising water levels in the Euphrates River due to extensive upstream water releases and the heavy rainy season.
“Anbar Governor Omar Mishan Dabbous has declared a state of full alert for 72 hours, warning of an upcoming wave of torrents and devastating floods coming from the Syrian border through the town of al-Qaim [adjacent to the Euphrates River],” Anbar’s provincial council said in a statement.
“The governor has instructed operational commands and public service departments to immediately deploy to low-lying areas and evacuate residents at risk to safeguard lives, while redirecting water toward the al-Warrar canal system to absorb the surge,” the statement added.
The warning in Anbar came shortly after Syrian authorities on Tuesday cautioned of an anticipated rise in water levels at the Euphrates Dam in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa province, which borders Iraq, in the coming hours and days.
Residents living along the riverbanks, particularly in low-lying areas, were urged to evacuate their homes and take “maximum precautions to ensure safety,” the Syrian Civil Defense said in a statement carried by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
“Water levels in the Euphrates have risen noticeably in recent days due to increased releases from upstream dams and higher inflows linked to seasonal rainfall across northern and eastern Syria,” the statement explained.
As a downstream state on the Euphrates River, Iraq has long faced significant water shortages. In 1974, reduced inflows brought the Iraqi government close to war with Syria, particularly as this coincided with the upstream filling of the Ataturk Dam in Turkey.
However, the heavy rainfall season this year has led to overflows in most dams and reservoirs across the country, including in the Kurdistan Region, where nearly all of its 25 dams and 180 artificial ponds have reached or exceeded full storage capacity, holding more than 9 billion cubic meters of water, Kurdish authorities reported last week.
RELATED: Kurdistan Region dams, reservoirs reach full capacity after heavy rains: Official