Heavy rains flood IDP camp and damage crops in Raqqa’s southern countryside

Raqqa – North-Press Agency
Mustafa al-Khalil

On Wednesday evening, heavy rains flooded a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and destroyed crops in the southern countryside of Raqqa.

Heavy rains flooded many tents in the al-Ratlah village camp, 11 km southeast of Raqqa, where about 500 displaced people, most of them from Aleppo, reside.

Muhammad Khalil, the administrator of the Asayish (Internal Security Forces) in Raqqa, told North-Press that emergency teams of the Asayish managed to rescue a group of IDPs from al-Ratlah camp after it was flooded by torrents of heavy rain, while another groups of IDPs were able to take refuge on a mountain to the south of the camp. Others sheltered on rooftops of nearby buildings.

The administrator explained that the damages of the incident were limited to the flooding of the camp, with no human casualties.

He pointed out that the heavy rain damaged crops in the villages of Kasrat Muhammad Ali, al-Akershi, Kasrat Suror in the southern countryside of Raqqa.

The city of Raqqa and its countryside have been experiencing heavy rains since Wednesday afternoon, accompanied by hail in some areas.