ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two people were killed and four others injured in flash floods that swept through the Kurdistan Region's eastern Sulaimani province on Tuesday, officials told Rudaw, amid reports that two children are also missing. A third person also died in northern Kirkuk province due to the floods.
Sarkawt Karash, spokesperson for the Region’s Civil Defense Directorate, said that the victims who lost their lives in Sulaimani were both residents of Chamchamal district, located in the western part of the province. He identified them as 72-year-old Omar Saeed Amin and 22-year-old Basharat Sharif.
In the northern Kirkuk province, a young girl named Bayar Eisa also drowned.
Unconfirmed reports of additional residents missing or injured have also emerged. Residents in Chamchamal told Rudaw’s reporter on the ground, Hiwa Hussamadin, that 11-year-old Karzan Abdulla and 9-year-old Chra Mohammed have gone missing amid the floods. Search operations are under way to locate them.
Rudaw footage showed severe flooding in Chamchamal and the northern town of Piramagrun in Sulaimani. The province’s traffic directorate also closed the western Sulaimani-Tasluja road and several other routes temporarily due to the stormwater runoff.
Seventy-two-year-old Omar Saeed Amin from Chamchamal district, in the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province, and Bayar Eisa, a young girl who drowned in northern Kirkuk province, were among those killed in Tuesday’s flash floods. pic.twitter.com/g8ifxLvNew