Today, Monday, a number of Iraqi cities were subjected to a wave of suffocating dust storms, which completely paralyzed movement and closed all the country's airports.
The Iraqi government announced the suspension of official working hours in all official institutions across the country, the postponement of final exams in schools and universities, the suspension of flights at all airports and the unloading of ships in ports.
đ„” From the capital, Baghdad,
at 06:30 on Monday morning,
heavy dust Peak wave effect đ·.
pic.twitter.com/jCNZFxwzJp
- Sadiq Attieh, weather forecaster (@sadeqatyia) May 23, 2022
Markets and shops were closed due to the lack of visibility, against the backdrop of dust storms that reached the country since midnight last night, while the Traffic Directorate called on truck and car owners not to move between governorates and streets.
According to Iraqi medical sources, the hospitals have taken precautionary measures and prepared their departments to receive injuries related to suffocation and the respiratory system.
Environmental experts attribute the intensification of dust storms in recent years to the deterioration of the soil condition in the Western Desert and the Badia region adjacent to the lands of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as a result of the movement of military vehicles, as well as the drying of the marshes and the shrinking of agricultural areas as a result of water scarcity in the columns of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.