In floods as a result of heavy rains, eleven people were killed on Friday in northern Iraq.

The governor of the Kurdish Autonomous Region, Omid Khozhnav, announced that women and children were among the fatalities in the Erbil area.

Two foreigners from the Philippines and Turkey were also among the dead.

According to Choschnaw, the flash floods began around 4 a.m. and surprised many people in their sleep.

After a recent severe drought, the population had not been prepared for flooding.

Initially, there was talk of eight fatalities.

One of the victims was killed in a lightning strike, said civil defense spokesman Zarqavt Karach.

The other seven victims drowned in their homes.

The bodies of three missing persons were later discovered.

They included a Filipino and a Turkish citizen, local authority representative Nabas Abdelhamid told the AFP news agency.

Droughts aggravate floods

According to Governor Khozhnav, the flood caused "significant" damage, particularly in a working-class district in the east of Erbil.

Four civil defense employees who wanted to come to the aid of the flood victims were injured when their vehicle was washed away by the masses of water.

Muddy water flowed through the streets of Erbil, a reporter for the AFP news agency reported.

The masses of water swept some buses, trucks and tankers with it, and some vehicles lay overturned on their side.

Many people in the flood area had to leave their homes, as the civil defense announced.

Fears of a dramatic decline in water resources

Governor Khozhnav called on people in homes that did not flood to stay at home if possible.

Since more rain is expected, there is a risk of further flooding.

Iraq has suffered from a number of extreme weather events in recent years.

In addition to heat waves and droughts, there were also severe floods.

They were exacerbated by the previous droughts because the dried out soils could hardly absorb water.

Because of the drought, many farmers gave up their farms and moved to the cities.

This further worsens the supply situation in the crisis country.

The World Bank warned in November that because of climate change, a further 20 percent decline in Iraq's water resources was to be feared by 2050.