A vendor drinks water in Baghdad on June 4, 2021. (NRT Digital Media/Winthrop Rodgers)
2021-06-30
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SULAIMANI — As temperatures soared in Iraq, electricity remained cut across many of the southern provinces on Wednesday (June 30).
The widespread outages began the previous day when Iran cut critical natural gas supplies to its western neighbor, which are used to fuel Iraq’s power generation plants. Baghdad is in serious arrears to Tehran on its bills for the vital supply.
Adding to the chaos, electricity minister Majed Mahdi Hantoosh submitted his resignation on Monday, under political pressure from persistent protests in the south about Iraq’s already shaky electricity system.
Beyond Iraq’s southern provinces like Basra, blackouts were also widespread in Diyala governorate in the east and the capital Baghdad.
The lack of electricity, and therefore the availability of cooling aids like air conditioning, fans, and water pumps, meant that much of the population sweltered under temperatures that are expected to hit 50 C (122 F) and above for the remainder of the week.
The health danger is especially acute in places like Basra, which are more humid than other parts of the country.
In response, the government shortened working hours in many of the affected governorates and urged the public to stay home during peak heat hours.
In the past, unreliable public services have been a flashpoint for protests in Iraq, particularly in the summer of 2019 in Basra.
(NRT Digital Media)