One person has died and about 5000 more have needed hospital treatment as a series of dust storms swept across Iraq last week. The majority of cases were from Baghdad, Anbar, and Najaf provinces, with the elderly and people with existing respiratory problems, such as asthma, being particularly vulnerable. Most patients were sent home after receiving oxygen treatment, although more serious cases were retained for further treatment. At the worst times flights within the country were cancelled.
Iraq is prone to dust storms, particularly during the summer months, when a long dry season is combined with prevailing winds blowing down from the mountainous northwest of the country towards the Persian Gulf. These are driven by high pressures over the Black Sea, and eastern Mediterranean, but typically lose their moisture on the western sides of the mountains, bringing water to western Turkey, but warm, dry air to Iraq and Arabia.
While this is an expected problem, the dust storms have been getting much more severe in recent years, due to a combination of rising temperatures and lower rainfall. Temperatures in the country now exceed 50°C regularly in the summer months, and the coutry has received 50% less rainfall this year than last year. Predictions based upon current global warming models suggest that the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which provide most of the country's water, could run dry in the summer months within 20 years, potentially making parts of the country uninhabitable.
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