Five people, including four children, killed in floods in northern and eastern Syria

Casualties and rescue operations

At least five people have died as a result of heavy rains and flash floods that struck northern and eastern regions of Syria. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Disaster Management, four children drowned in two separate incidents in the countryside of Raqqa province, another child died in Deir ez-Zor, and an adult was also killed in Raqqa. This was reported by The National.

Scale of the consequences

Civil Defense rescuers evacuated 25 people from the disaster zone who had been trapped by floodwaters or stuck in vehicles. Five people remain missing after the floods, which began on Wednesday. In Raqqa, a bridge collapsed due to the rains, cutting off traffic on the road linking the region to the neighboring province of Aleppo, the state agency Sana reported. Footage circulated online showing a military helicopter evacuating people from a stranded vehicle in Deir ez-Zor. The Ministry announced the evacuation of 375 families from flooded camps for displaced people in the Raqqa countryside.

Why the floods are especially dangerous

As the outlet notes, Syria's infrastructure is still recovering from the civil war that began in 2011, and the damage from the conflict makes the country particularly vulnerable to heavy winter rains. Many Syrians remain displaced even after the end of the war in December 2024, when insurgents toppled the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad. The government led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa, according to The National, is working to attract foreign investment. It is precisely the vulnerability of the affected areas that underscores the scale of the disaster: the floods hit camps where displaced families live, requiring a mass evacuation.