Floods kill 5, including 4 children, leave 5 missing in Syria

Five people, including four children, were killed and five others are missing after heavy rainfall and flash floods hit several Syrian provinces, the Emergency and Disaster Management Ministry said Thursday.

It said the deaths were recorded in the countryside of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, while five people were reported missing in the rural areas of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo, according to Syria’s SANA news agency.

Search operations for the missing are continuing in coordination with relevant authorities, it added.

Civil Defense teams rescued 25 people trapped by floodwaters or whose vehicles became stranded in Raqqa in northern Syria, Deir ez-Zor in the east and Homs in central Syria.

The ministry said emergency teams remain deployed in affected areas, responding to distress calls and assisting civilians.

In Deir ez-Zor, footage showed Syrian army helicopters taking part in operations to rescue those stranded by floodwaters and blocked roads.

Military helicopters rescued two people trapped by flooding along the Deir ez-Zor-Palmyra road, according to SANA.

Hundreds of families evacuated

Emergency and Disaster Management Minister Raed al-Saleh said earlier that all ministry teams were on alert in response to heavy rainfall and flooding.

The alert covered Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Hasakah, Hama, Homs and Latakia provinces, according to Alikhbariah TV.

The ministry said Civil Defense teams had carried out 165 field responses as of 11.30 pm (2030GMT) Wednesday, rescuing 15 civilians and evacuating 375 families from flood-hit camps.

The families were evacuated from the Sahlat al-Banat, Al-Younani and Al-Maqas camps in the Raqqa countryside after rainwater flooded the sites.

Emergency teams received more than 350 reports, while flooding put seven bridges, culverts and dirt roads out of service, according to the ministry.

More than 100 families were also trapped in the Kasrat Surur area in rural Raqqa after a dirt culvert collapsed, prompting an emergency response.

Teams pumped and drained water from more than 150 homes and public facilities, including two hospitals, schools and bakeries.

Large parts of Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor, as well as eastern Homs, Hama and Aleppo, have experienced heavy thunderstorms accompanied by hail and strong winds.

The rain triggered floods and overflowing waterways, cutting roads and damaging public facilities as rescue and emergency operations continued.