Syria flash floods kill at least 5, force hundreds of families from camps

Flash floods and heavy rain across Syria earlier this week have left at least five people dead, including four children, and five others missing, Syrian officials said Friday as rescue teams worked to evacuate families and reopen damaged roads.

Four children drowned in pools formed by floodwaters in rural areas of Syria’s northeastern province of Raqqa and eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, state news agency SANA reported Friday, citing the country’s Emergency and Disaster Management Ministry. 

Seven people were injured and five remain missing, according to the agency.

The flash floods followed heavy rain and thunderstorms that swept across the country’s northeastern and eastern regions as well as some central and northern areas on Wednesday, accompanied by hail and strong winds, causing water to surge through valleys and inundate roads.

Civil Defense teams rescued 50 people in more than 300 emergency responses Wednesday and Thursday, Yousef Azzo, field operations director at the Emergency and Disaster Management Ministry, told SANA on Friday.

Meanwhile, roughly 375 families left three displacement camps in rural Raqqa after rainwater flooded the sites, the agency reported. Residents said that water inundated parts of the camps and caused some tents to collapse.

Raqqa was home to 41 displacement camps and shelter sites as of July, according to the UN’s refugee agency figures. Two of the flood-hit camps, Sahlet al-Banat and al-Yonani, housed roughly 10,000 people who fled their homes during Syria’s civil war. 

Floodwaters also led to the collapse of the al-Salmani Bridge in the Raqqa town of Tabqa, severing the highway linking the province to northern Aleppo province, while damaged fiber optic cables disrupted communications in Deir ez-Zor, according to SANA.

The disaster follows major flooding along the Euphrates in late May and early June, when heavy rainfall and upstream water releases affected more than 27,000 people in Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, displacing roughly 9,600, according to the UN Population Fund.