RT @lifeaftardeath: Several dead, thousands flee homes in Iraq floods | Arab News
In northern Iraq, the flooding continues. AFP reports, "At least 21 people have died and tens of thousands displaced by heavy rains that have battered Iraq over two days, the health ministry and United Nations said on Sunday. Women and children were among the dead, health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr told AFP. Some had drowned, but others had died in car accidents, were electrocuted, or were trapped when their houses collapsed." Rescuing people is not an easy task and we should all be asking why that is? ALJAZEERA explains:
In Mosul, the heavy storms submerged two floating bridges along the Tigris river, which bisects the city.
They were the only way to move between Mosul's eastern and western halves, after all its bridges were bombed during last year's months-long operation to retake the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group.
Mosul's bridges were destroying by bombings last year. Last year. 2017. We have one more full month left in 2018. And those bridges haven't been reconstructed? And who bombed them because if the answer has been these floating bridges, it's probably Iraq and/or the US-led coalition that bombed the bridges.
The failure to fix those bridges have put hundreds in jeopardy. (And at least 180 have been injured in the floods, by the way.) A lot of people are in jeopardy. THE NATIONAL explains:
An estimated 10,000 people in Salah Eddin and 15,000 people in Ninewa are in need of assistance, including thousands of families living in IDP camps, OCHA said, adding that the Shirqat district in Salah al-Din, and Qayyarah Airstrip and Jeddah IDP camps in Ninewa, are among the worst affected.
The floods have shed new light on the plight of areas battered by the war against ISIS and have made the issue of reconstruction more urgent in light of the devastation caused by this week’s storms.
They have also raised questions over who is to blame for the deteriorating infrastructure that allowed for road washouts and wide-spread disruption across parts of the country, at a time when the government has failed to tackle the issue of rampant corruption in the public sector.
It should probably be noted that there are people living in tents in Iraq -- including residents of Mosul who've been unable to return home so far.
ANADOLU AGENCY notes that at least 300 homes have been seriously damaged by the flooding.
Iraq floods leave 21 dead in two days: health ministry http://bit.ly/2RirvVb
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