Euphrates flooding displaces 2.4K families in Syria

Shafaq News- Damascus

Rising water levels in the Euphrates River triggered displacement and widespread damage in Syria’s Deir Ez-Zor province, bordering Iraq, on Friday, inundating homes, farmland, and critical water facilities and prompting an emergency response from authorities.

According to Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Al-Saleh, around 2,400 families have been affected by the floods. The flooding followed the opening of discharge gates at the Euphrates Dam as a precautionary measure after inflows from Turkiye were estimated at 2,000 cubic meters per second, Syrian media outlets stated.

On Thursday, Deir Ez-Zor’s Emergency and Disaster Management Committee ordered the immediate evacuation of the Hawijat Saqr and Hawijat Qati areas and urged residents to follow official instructions to protect lives and property.

In Raqqa province, authorities reinforced several earthen embankments to protect water pumps, villages, agricultural land, and residential areas from further flooding. The ministry reported damage to homes, a school, a mosque, and farmland in the Al-Jamasa, Al-Jumaili, and Al-Ajil river island areas.

Syria’s Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management said emergency teams had been fully mobilized to confront the inundation in Deir Ez-Zor and Raqqa, with reinforcements and heavy machinery dispatched from Aleppo and Idlib to accelerate response efforts. The ministry reported that three children drowned while swimming in the Euphrates River, while another child remains missing, while floodwaters put the Maraiyah, Earthen, and Asharah bridges out of service and inundated homes in the Harabish neighborhood and the Hawijat Saqr area.

On May 28, water levels in the Euphrates River rose by up to 50 meters in some areas, prompting warnings of flash floods that could threaten lives, property, farmland, and riverside communities, Syrian authorities said. Meanwhile, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent dispatched an 11-truck aid convoy to support families displaced by the crisis in Deir Ez-Zor.

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