ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nine schools in Sulaimani province’s Chamchamal district have suffered major damage from recent flash floods, a senior official said Thursday, with the education minister pledging swift renovations.
“Due to the rain and floods, nine of our schools were damaged and require renovation,” Abdullah Hamakakarash, director of education in Chamchamal, told Rudaw, noting that several school walls had been compromised.
During a visit to one of the affected schools in the Takiya sub-district, Kurdistan Region Education Minister Alan Hama Saeed said the ministry would work to “bring the schools in Chamchamal back into service as soon as possible through renovation and the provision of study supplies.”
The Kurdistan Region and Iraq were hit by torrential rains for three consecutive days starting Monday, triggering severe flash floods that killed three people in the Region and two in Kirkuk province, and injured more than a dozen others.
Sulaimani province’s Kalar and Chamchamal districts were among the hardest hit.
Beyond damaging school and residential buildings, the floodwaters also ruined students’ books, classroom materials, and furniture.
“Water entered people’s homes, and a number of students no longer have their books,” Saeed said, adding that replacements would be distributed “quickly and according to capacity.”
A technical team from the Sulaimani education directorate will assess the extent of the destruction, the minister added, saying “necessary decisions will be made today regarding how we can renovate these schools and provide needed supplies.”
First-term examinations, originally set to begin on December 15, have been postponed due to the flooding. The minister said the Sulaimani education directorate has been authorized to set a new date, with exams now expected to be held in early January.
Chamchamal’s only public library also suffered extensive damage, with rare and historical books - some preserved for nearly five decades - destroyed. Established in 1976, the library has long been a key educational and cultural institution for the district.
“Our library has suffered huge damage,” Hersh Abdulrahman, head of the Chamchamal Public Library, told Rudaw. “These books were invaluable - historical, scientific, and medical works that are extremely rare and very difficult to replace.”
During a field visit to flood-stricken Chamchamal, Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani announced the formation of a committee to raise funds for victims, calling on philanthropists, business leaders, and the public to contribute. “Today we are all Chamchamali, and we must face this incident together,” Talabani said.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s water resources ministry said dams across the Region have begun storing significant reserves of water following the heavy rains.