BAGHDAD, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's northern province of Nineveh declared state of emergency after a wave of floods of torrential rain that fell during the past 24 hours, the provincial government said in a statement on Saturday.
It said the floods swept through several districts in the provincial capital Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, and worst floods were in al-Qayyarah area in south of Mosul, where the water level rose seven meters in Gassab Valley.
"The province declared a state of emergency, warning residents to stay away from the valley corridor as rescue teams are trying to take the people out of the flooded areas," the statement said.
In a separate statement, Nineveh's provincial council declared a holiday on Sunday for Nineveh's schools, and called on the provincial service offices to redouble their efforts to get rid of the floods.
Ghazawan Hamid, member of emergency committee of the provincial council, told Xinhua that "the heaviest rain concentrated in the western part of Nineveh province, as the floods blocked the main road between Mosul and Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul."
In the city of Mosul, the flood swept some bridges and several neighborhoods in eastern and western bank of the Tigris River, which bisects the city, Hamid said.
"So far, there is only one death case of a female child registered in the western side of the city. In addition, the water covered hundreds of houses in the neighborhoods of Faisaliyah, Shurtta, Jazair and Sideeq in the eastern side of Mosul. And the neighborhoods of Tawafa, Wadi al-Eyn, Dawasa and some areas of the old city center in the western side of the city," Hamid said.
On Sunday, the Iraqi Health Ministry said in a statement that up to 21 people died and 178 others were injured due to floods of torrential rain that fell across Iraq in the previous 48 hours.
The worst of last week floods occurred in Shirqat area, some 280 km north of Baghdad, where the floods gushed some 3,000 homes.
