Iraq: Iraq's Killer Weather

Nov 12, 2015 | Chloe Cornish, IRIN
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Iraq is the world’s second most dangerous country, according to the Global Peace Index. Only Syria ranks higher. The UN counts 559 civilians killed by terrorism and armed conflict in Iraq in October alone. What is less well known is that its harsh climate, heavy rain as well as extremes in temperature, can also prove fatal. At least 58 people have died in the recent floods, most killed by electrocution in the capital. Another death was reported in Kalar, a town in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, where flooding caused a man’s house to collapse on top of him.