Toddler dies as downpour wreaks havoc in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Torrential rain caused chaos across several parts of Iraq on Thursday, with flood waters sweeping a toddler to her death and damaging camps for the displaced.
The storm that hit Baghdad on Wednesday evening was unusually violent and the first after a long, dry summer.
According to a spokesman for the meteorological department, 54 mm of rain fell on the Baghdad region in 24 hours, causing thigh-high flooding on some streets. A three-year-old girl died when she was swept away by the water at a camp for displaced people near Tuz Khurmatu, about 220 km north of Baghdad, officials said.
The poor condition of infrastructure in Baghdad, the Arab world’s second largest city with an estimated population of more than eight million, resulted in spectacular flooding.
The government declared Thursday a national holiday, knowing that many residents would be unable to reach their workplace due to the impact on transportation.
Many motorists were unable to move their vehicles, stranding them on the roadside in the most flooded areas as others were marooned in the middle of deep pools of water.
In one video posted on social media, the staff in a Baghdad hospital were seen wading knee-deep in water.
Residents of some neighborhoods of the capital spent most of the night bailing rain mixed with sewage water from the ground floor of their homes.
“Forget the furniture, I am afraid of the diseases this can spread. Shame on our past leaders, who allowed everything in this city to rot,” said Ahmed, from northwestern Baghdad.
In areas around the capital, rivers of mud wrecked the tented camps set up for the people displaced by conflict in Anbar and other regions of Iraq.