Several dead, thousands flee homes in Iraq floods

SAMARRA, Iraq: Four children and three women were killed on Friday and thousands fled their homes in flash floods around the northern Iraqi town of Shirqat on Friday, its mayor said.

Three other people were unaccounted for, said Ali Dawdah, the mayor of Al-Sharqat, a town 250-km north of Baghdad. "Three thousand homes have been flooded," and hundreds of families have fled, he added.

Iraq and neighbouring countries have been hit by heavier-than-average rainfall in recent weeks, resulting in deaths and widespread material damage. Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi announced on Friday he was establishing a "crisis cell" of security forces and local authorities to coordinate a response.

It would be backed by "helicopters and heavy-duty vehicles will intervene as quickly as possible and carry out rescue operations", his office said. President Barham Salih expressed condolences to victims’ families on Twitter, calling it a "painful accident that reaffirms the necessity for reconstruction and (public) services."