Seven people, including five children, drowned during severe flooding in Syria, while another man died in a flood-related traffic accident, Emergency and Disaster Management Minister Raed al-Saleh said Friday evening.
Four people remained missing, with intensive searches underway, al-Saleh said in an update reported by state news agency SANA. Civil Defense teams had rescued 60 people trapped when floodwaters surrounded their vehicles.
The minister said teams had carried out more than 550 field responses by Friday morning and received over 900 calls for help. Life-threatening emergencies were being prioritized.
Operations included evacuating two schools with more than 350 students, coordinating the evacuation of 375 families from camps in Raqqa and responding to flooding at seven camps in Aleppo and Idlib countryside.
Crews also removed water from about 250 homes and public facilities, including two hospitals, and helped recover more than 150 stranded vehicles. The figures were the minister's Friday-evening account as rescue work continued.
Source: SANA
Graphic: The Syria Wire
