Three people, including a woman, were killed after being electrocuted in three separate incidents in Babil Governorate, in the center of the country, during heavy rains that swept the country, an Iraqi medical official announced Thursday.

The same source said that the victims, aged 16, 22, and 30, all went out on Wednesday evening during a storm that struck the country to cut off the power supply to their homes during heavy rains, fearing that fluctuations in intensity would damage their home appliances.

Babil province, like most parts of the country, was affected on Wednesday by heavy rains and storms.

The streets of the city of Hilla, the largest city in Babylon, were flooded with rainwater, and it became almost impossible for cars to move along the main street of the city, according to an AFP correspondent.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani ordered the suspension of official working hours in all state institutions due to bad weather, with the exception of the security services and some public services.

Heavy rains also affected the cities of the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

The village of Khabat was subjected to torrents that swept away some shops and caused damage to homes, while the villagers rushed with the help of an excavator to clean a road full of mud brought by torrents, according to an AFP photographer.

In addition, videos posted by Rudaw TV showed torrents sweeping a car off the roads as it flowed through the mountainous terrain.

Iraq has been suffering from drought and rainfall has decreased for three years, while farmers express their joy at the rare rains beneficial to rivers and the increase in water reserves in dams.

But in a country that suffers from poor infrastructure despite large oil revenues, exceptional rains cause flooding in cities due to poor sewage systems or power outages.

According to the United Nations, Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most vulnerable to certain effects of climate change. Often, activists deplore the lack of effective public policies to mitigate these unrest and the authorities' lack of seriousness in seeking solutions.

At the end of February, the authorities became aware of an alarming drop in water levels in the south of the Tigris and Euphrates, the two largest rivers that cross the country.
The government blames this phenomenon on drought but above all on the dams built upstream on the two rivers by its two great neighbours, Turkey and Iran.