Fierce storm hits Erbil: Injuries and damages recorded

Shafaq News/ One man was killed and two others were injured after a fire broke out late Friday in the village of Sorbash, in the Shamamak sub-district within Erbil Province, a local source told Shafaq News.

According to the source, the victim was an Arab man who worked as a security guard in the area.

The deadly fire was part of a wider wave of damage inflicted by the violent weather system that swept across Erbil and its surroundings.

The storm caused a partial collapse of the Mar Yousif Church in Ankawa, sparked fires across approximately 700 dunams of farmland, and toppled trees onto civilian vehicles.

Several children were also injured when a playground swing structure collapsed in a city neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Electricity announced that high-voltage transmission lines were downed by the storm, leading to widespread power outages in parts of Duhok and Erbil. Over 1,000 megawatts of electricity were knocked out of the grid before control teams partially restored the system.