Shafaq News- Baghdad

The Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) bloc in the Iraqi parliament on Monday asked Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to compensate victims of the deadly floods that swept through Erbil over the weekend, killing two people and damaging hundreds of homes and thousands of cars.

In a letter to al-Zaidi, the bloc called for compensation to be paid from the federal emergency budget and for a ministerial delegation to be sent to assess the damage with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw also urged Baghdad on Sunday to take responsibility, noting that emergency and relief funds are usually deducted from the Kurdistan Region's share of the federal budget.

Khoshnaw said municipal teams were still clearing mud and debris left by the floods from roads, markets, alleys and homes.

A Night of Floods

Torrential rain on Saturday night flooded several neighborhoods in Erbil, particularly in the city's east. One area recorded more than 45 millimeters of rain in a single hour, and others about 120 millimeters, overwhelming the drainage network, Khoshnaw said.

According to the governor, floods killed two people, including 28-year-old Mohammed Rasoul and five-year-old Mustafa Sarkawt. Rescue teams pulled more than 300 people from cars and homes, some using cranes. Roads, government buildings, schools, hospitals, and mosques were also damaged, and authorities suspended classes.

A joint committee has been formed to assess the damage, and Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani ordered an investigation into the floods and directed authorities to assist affected residents.

Residents described water rushing in with little warning. In the Sebardan neighborhood, muddy water poured into Ahmed's home within half an hour and rose above a meter, ruining furniture and appliances. "We had no chance to get anything out," he told Shafaq News.

Taxi driver Aras Majid was trying to get home when the flood caught him. "The water lifted the car as if it were a piece of wood and smashed it into another parked car," he said. He escaped through a window, but the engine and electronics were destroyed. "The car is my only source of income," he said.

Elsewhere in the Kurdistan Region

In Duhok province, which has also seen heavy rain in recent days, municipal teams are on 24-hour standby, but no damage has been recorded as of Sunday, municipality spokesman Sherwan Hassan told Shafaq News.

With winter approaching, Duhok’s migration and crisis response department also said it would replace old and damaged tents housing displaced Yazidis in the province’s camps with new ones, to protect them from rain and cold. Many Yazidis have lived in the camps since the ISIS group overran their homeland in Sinjar in 2014.