CHAMCHAMAL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Sulaimani's Chamchamal was particularly affected when a giant wave of flash floods struck the Kurdistan Region last week. The flood not only killed two people in the city, but also came at a catastrophic cost to the city, with hundreds upon hundreds of houses, shops, cars, and properties either swept away with the current or completely overwhelmed and submerged under the aggressive waters.

Chamchamal's traffic directorate on Thursday said that over 650 cars were reported as having been damaged, with earlier data by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) suggesting that over 500 houses were flooded as the current blindly pillaged everything on its way through the city. The damages become even more staggering when viewed in the context of the city's size and population—the KRG's Ministry of Planning put Chamchamal's population at just over 157,000 people in 2020.

Hawraz and his wife, a newlywed couple, had left to perform the Umrah pilgrimage when they learned from abroad that their home was flooded. In a phone call with The New Region, Hawraz, who was still in Saudi Arabia at the time, told the story of how he found out that his new home was submerged in the flood.

"I found out through the news and videos that my house was ruined. I then called my family and they told me that nothing had survived, not the house nor the car," Hawraz said.

"We were very saddened, but we thanked Allah. This is Him paying us a visit. This is from God, and people should not be ungrateful at times like this," he professed, adding that he had gone to pray, not only for himself, but for all of the people in Chamchamal who were affected in the event.

The New Region spoke to another local who lost everything in his house to the flood, including his car, an old Opel that showed signs of impact from being lifted afloat and moved with the current.

"My son and I were holding the door while the women and children rushed to safety; the water overpowered and rushed in. We were submerged up to here," he said, pointing to his neck. "My son told me to read the Shahada," a declaration of faith that Muslims aim to have as their last words. The man described the terrifying moment as one he will "never forget."

The flood has etched lasting memories in the minds of many of the city's locals, while others barely scrape by after watching years' worth of their belongings be carried with the flow. The scenes led to several major campaigns across the Kurdistan Region aiming to raise money and collect aid for the disaster-struck city, with AVA Media, the largest Kurdish network and The New Region's media partner, at the forefront of fundraising and distributing badly-needed relief supplies.

Aid pours in

The New Region visited a library in Chamchamal, which was turned into a makeshift warehouse by AVA Media to store the aid that arrived in the city before distributing it among those who needed it, with aid trucks delivering the much-needed utilities, food items, furniture, and electric appliances to Chamchamal's population.

The warehouse had received 6 containers of aid among dozens delivered to the city by the media network, Hussein Mam Anwar, a volunteer supervising the storage space, told The New Region.

"It includes all kinds of things: household appliances, electric appliances, and everything else that is a necessity for life. We have so far distributed them to over 340 houses, and the process is still ongoing," Anwar said. The aid is in addition to the billions of dinars raised during AVA's prime time 7 o'clock news bulletin, which was dedicated to raising money and collecting aid for the flood victims for several days.

The bulletin saw donations come in from all levels of society, with single donations reaching all the way up to hundreds of millions of dinars.

Qadriya, a single mother of two, one of whom suffers from diabetes, with the other one being a child with special needs, was one beneficiary of the aid. Qadriya's house wasn't damaged in the flood, but the aid going into the town has had a direct impact on the city's less fortunate population, whether affected by the flood or not.

In addition to AVA Media, many other campaigns were independently launched and delivered to the city, some smaller than others, but they all came together not only to make an impact for Chamchamal but also as a show of Kurdish unity, an unspoken promise to the entire Kurdistan Region that wherever a disaster befalls, all of the Kurdistan Region's cities will come together hand in hand and treat it as if it occurred to themselves.

Chamchamal remembers

The flood did not come at a personal cost to Mohammed Omar, an auto parts shop owner in Chamchamal's Shorsh neighborhood, even though he had relatives and friends who were affected by the flood storm. The aid has "relieved the city," he said. "This aid that was distributed to the people was very, very good; it was a beautiful gesture," Omar noted.

Farhad Hassan, a worker in Shorsh's industrial complex, thanked "all of the cities in the Kurdistan Region who came to aid Chamchamal." Hassan said that he personally "wasn't affected, but I have family, friends, and colleagues who have been affected," some of whom had their houses filled with water.

Despite being hit the hardest, neither the flood nor the outpour of aid was exclusive only to Chamchamal, with flood victims from other parts of Kurdistan also having been kept in mind.

The flood storm, while offering a long-awaited influx of water into reservoirs for drought-stricken Iraq, came at a high cost, with at least four people killed and dozens more injured or missing. It also left devastating financial damages in its wake in Chamchamal and elsewhere, with hundreds of properties damaged and many families having gone homeless.

All photos by Gashtyar Akram / The New Region