Iraq News Now

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Schools in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces will be closed on Sunday as a safety precaution as further heavy rainfall and flooding is forecast, officials confirm. Authorities in Erbil and Duhok say they are monitoring the weather situation. 

Fazil Ibrahim, head of the Kurdistan Region’s Meteorology and Earthquake Department, warned on Saturday the Region will experience another wave of intense rainfall in the coming hours. 

“The current wave of rainfall in the Kurdistan Region will persist for some days and it will intensify starting from Sunday,” Ibrahim told Rudaw. 

He forecast the rain could continue into Wednesday. 

Responding to the weather warning, Sulaimani Public Education Department’s media office said: “The Meteorology and Earthquake Department-Sulaimani informed us that, as per their predictions, a heavy wave of rainfall will sweep across the Sulaimani province.” 

“For the safety of the lives of pupils and students, we decided to declare March 31 a public holiday across all schools of Sulaimani province.”

Heavy rain in recent days has caused widespread damage to homes, farms, and public infrastructure, including roads and bridges.  

Soran Omer, head of the Halabja Education Department, confirmed the area’s schools will also be closed. 

Due to “unstable weather conditions,” the Garmiyan bloc administration has also declared Sunday a public holiday. 

Erbil and Duhok officials are yet to order similar school closures. 

“We have freed the Erbil province’s education sub-departments to decide whether or not to work if flooding occurs,” Bashdar Abdulqadir, general manager of Erbil Education Department, told Rudaw.

Ahmed Abdulla, spokesperson of Duhok’s Education Department, said they too are leaving it up to schools to decide whether to close.

Heavy rainfall has also wreaked havoc in neighboring Iran, causing dozens of deaths and disrupting agriculture.