Recent rain storms cost Karbala 3 billion dinars, official

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: The heavy rain storms that hit Southwest Iraq’s Karbala Province has cost it 3 billion dinars, the Province’s Deputy Chairman said on Sunday. “The losses, caused by heavy rain and sand storms that hit Karbala Province last Wednesday and Thursday had inflicted heavy losses on the Province’s agriculture, that cost it about 3 billion dinars,” Nuseif Jassim told IraqiNews.com news agency. He said that dozens of houses have collapsed or damaged, along with more than 1,000 palm-trees, along with huge losses in several agricultural fields,” Jassim said, adding that the Province’s local authority is helping the harmed people. The Province’s Council Chairman, Mohammed Hamid al-Moussawi had said earlier that the Finance Ministry had agreed to allocate 5 billion dinars, to be distributed on the families, harmed by the rain and sand storms, along with repairing dozens of electric power towers that fell down due to the storms, adding that each harmed family would get about 20 million dinars to help them build new houses. SKH (TI)/SR   434