INA - SOURCES
The Syrian Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management issued a warning on Monday of potential flooding on the Euphrates River.
“Residents near the banks of the Euphrates River in the governorates of Aleppo, Raqqa, and Deir el-Zor must take the utmost precautions, based on data issued by the Ministry’s Early Warning and Preparedness Department, in coordination with the General Authority for the Euphrates Dam at the Ministry of Energy, which indicates a possible rise in the river’s water level, potentially exceeding two meters in the coming period,” said the Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management, Raed al-Saleh, in a statement followed up by the Iraqi News Agency - INA.
Al-Saleh added that “Syrian Civil Defense teams have raised their readiness to the highest level to respond to any emergency,” stressing that “safety is a shared responsibility, and that residents’ adherence to preventive measures constitutes the first line of defense against potential risks.”
In turn, the Syrian Civil Defense called on citizens living on the banks of the Euphrates River or within its boundaries to "prepare for a flood surge and a rise in water levels above their normal average, following an increase in the water discharge from the Euphrates Dam to 1,500 cubic meters per second."
Meanwhile, the Syrian Ministry of Energy announced that "the staff of the General Authority for the Euphrates Dam opened three spillway gates at the dam due to the significant increase in water inflow, in a move considered the first of its kind in more than thirty years, to preserve the structural and operational safety of the dams."