Iraq Salahuddin province on high alert over flood threat

BAGHDAD, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's central province of Salahuddin took precautionary measures on Sunday evening in all the cities in north of the city of Samarra for expected flood waves in the Tigris River.

The provincial authorities issued statements to evacuate fully or partially before midnight from many areas and cities north of a dam near Samarra as they expect the first wave of flood will reach in the province.

Samarra Dam located in west of Samarra city, some 120 km north of Baghdad. Its main purpose is to divert floodwater in the Tigris River to Lake Tharthar in the western part of Salahuddin province.

Bassam Abdul Wahid, director of water resources in the province, said in a statement that "10,000 cubic meters of water per second is expected to flow into the river, which means a rise of up to 2 meters of river level."

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Water Resources informed Salahuddin province that the dams of Dokan and Derbandikhan on the tributaries of Upper Zab and Lower Zab respectively have reached their maximum reservoir capacity and that means more water is coming to the Tigris River basin in the province, Abdul Wahid said.

He also said that the ministry began to release additional quantities of water from Iraq's northern dam of Mosul, the largest dam in Iraq, in addition, he said that more waves of flood could arrive due to heavy rains that have fallen in the northern provinces and now head towards Tigris River.

Also in the day, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi headed a meeting to discuss and evaluate plans and preparations to control the floods and the expected rise of water in the river level, caused by the season of melting snow and heavy rain.