Once again, dust and dust permeated the skies of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and other areas in the country, as far as Erbil, causing more than a thousand cases of suffocation, prompting the authorities to close official departments and temporarily suspend air traffic.
And the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Health, Saif Al-Badr, announced that more than a thousand people had been treated in hospitals, who had suffocated because of the sand.
Also in neighboring Kuwait, the General Administration of Civil Aviation announced the temporary suspension of navigation due to the dust storm that the country is witnessing.
In Saudi Arabia, the second dust storm in less than a week arrived in Riyadh on Monday evening, blocking the view of the most important landmarks of the capital, including the giant Kingdom Tower.
The Saudi Civil Defense warned the residents of Riyadh and its surrounding areas against the continuation of the storm, and the accompanying dust and dust, until at least nine in the evening, Monday.
The dust storm began in Iraq on Sunday night, with the expectation that it will gradually disappear. Indeed, the dust began to recede on Monday afternoon and the weather is improving.
On Monday, residents of the capital woke up to layers of dust covering their homes and cars, while visibility was low on streets and roads that were almost empty of pedestrians.
A similar recent storm that hit Iraq just a week ago caused the closure of airports and public administrations as well and the suspension of exams, while about 10,000 people suffocated during the last two dust storms.
In anticipation of the dust storm, the Prime Minister requested, in a statement on Sunday evening, “the suspension of official working hours in official institutions, except for the health, security and service departments,” Monday, “due to bad weather conditions, and the entry of a wave of severe dust storms to separate areas of Iraq.”
And Baghdad International Airport announced, in a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency, the resumption of flights at noon on Monday, after they were suspended “due to dust storms and the visibility range reached 400 meters.”
After resuming its flights earlier on Monday, the Erbil International Airport administration announced the suspension of flights for the second time due to the return of thick dust.
Experts attribute it to climate change, lack of rain and desertification. Iraq is one of the five countries most vulnerable to climate change and desertification in the world, especially due to the increasing drought with high temperatures that exceed fifty degrees Celsius for days in the summer.
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