Heavy thunderstorms and rainfall that hit Deir Ezzor on Wednesday evening triggered severe flash floods, disrupting activities and businesses, damaging infrastructure, closing roads, cutting communications and prompting the suspension of school attendance and interprovincial travel.
Efforts to contain flood damage
Fayez Abbas, head of the Emergency Response Committee in Deir Ezzor Governorate, told SANA on Thursday that government teams are working to contain the effects of the flooding. Crews reopened roads in several areas, cleared drainage channels and removed obstacles in Hatla, al-Husseiniyah and al-Salihiyah. They also removed a tree from beneath a secondary bridge in the al-Kubar area.
In al-Tabni, which experienced heavy rainfall, Abbas said the Khan al-Zahra bypass and the road had both been put out of service. A family in the Wadi Shiha area was evacuated after floodwaters surrounded their home and was taken to a safe location.
Civil Defense rescues stranded people, reopens damaged roads
Osama Arbo, operations chief at the governorate’s Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate, said Civil Defense teams responded to residents’ reports of flooded homes and taken the necessary measures.
Teams were also dispatched to the Deir Ezzor-Raqqa road in the al-Tarif area after receiving a report that it had been cut off. Personnel and equipment were deployed to address the damage.
Arbo said the road at Khan al-Zahra Bridge near al-Tabni in western Deir Ezzor countryside had been reopened. However, the Deir Ezzor-Raqqa road in the Ghanem Ali area remained completely impassable due to flooding. The Homs-Deir Ezzor road was also cut off in the al-Huraybshah area because of floodwaters and soil erosion.
Two people were rescued in al-Huraybshah by helicopters operated by the Ministry of Defense, in coordination with the Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management. Personnel at the airport provided first aid before the two were transferred to hospitals.
Residents also recovered the body of a person who drowned in the Hammar al-Ali area amid the flooding. Arbo urged people to stay away from the Euphrates River and low-lying areas and to report emergencies.
Fiber-optic cable damage disrupts communications
Anas al-Yassin, director of the Deir Ezzor Telecommunications Branch, said communications outages resulted from damage to fiber-optic cables along the Homs-Deir Ezzor and Aleppo-Deir Ezzor routes caused by flooding and heavy rainfall.
The damage occurred in the al-Sukhna area along the Homs-Deir Ezzor road and in al-Kubar along the Aleppo-Deir Ezzor road. Al-Yassin said cell phone operator was operating with limited communications services, while repair crews had been dispatched and would begin work as soon as they could reach the affected sites.
The Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management earlier reported that five people, including four children, had died and five others were missing in the countryside of Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and Aleppo due to flooding and heavy rainfall across several governorates. Search operations for the missing continued.
Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir Ezzor governorates, along with areas in eastern Homs, Hama and Aleppo, experienced thunderstorms accompanied by hail and strong downdraft winds. The weather caused flooding, flash floods and overflowing wadis, cutting off several roads.
