Syria Warns Raqqa And Deir Ezzor As Euphrates Dam Opens Three Spillway Gates

Syrian authorities issued flood warnings for Raqqa and Deir Ezzor as the Euphrates River rose following increased water discharge from the Euphrates Dam, with Syrian Civil Defense warning that river levels could rise by more than 2 meters after dam discharge was increased to 1,500 cubic meters per second.

The Arab News report said the Ministry of Energy opened three spillway gates at the Euphrates Dam for the first time in more than 30 years due to rising water levels, describing the measure as necessary to protect the dam and maintain electricity stability.

Al-Jazeera Net

Al-Jazeera Net reported that Syria’s Ministry of Energy opened three spillway gates at the Euphrates Dam in Raqqa Governorate for the first time in more than three decades to ensure the dam’s safety after the river’s water level rose above its normal rate.

In the same Al-Jazeera Net account, the Euphrates Dam—also known as the Tabqa Dam—was described as located on the Euphrates River in the city of Tabqa, about 50 kilometers west of Raqqa, and the dam was said to be 4.5 kilometers long with a top width of 20 meters and a base width of 60 meters.

Fighting around the Tabqa Dam intensified as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) entered the complex from the north while the ultra-radical Sunni group still controlled the main dam, the largest in Syria on the Euphrates River, according to ladepeche.fr.

AFP’s Commander Rojda Felat told AFP, "We are trying to preserve the dam as much as possible so that it is not damaged," as the article said the northern road to the dam was peppered with signs of violence between Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by the United States and the jihadists of the Islamic State group (IS).

Al-Jazeera Net

The same ladepeche.fr report said the dam had been out of service since Sunday after bombardments shut down the power plant supplying electricity to the dam, halting operation of infrastructure that risks triggering a dangerous rise in water levels.

It also reported that the SDF announced on Monday a four-hour pause in operations to allow engineers to enter the complex, and that a spokesperson for the SDF said the inspection had been completed successfully, while a technical source contradicted those claims and said it would take two or three days to repair damage from bombardment of the power chamber.

The Le Monde.fr account framed the Tabqa Dam strike as a trigger for catastrophic flooding risks, saying the dam regulates the Euphrate and contains the "lac Assad" with a surface area of 630km2 and a capacity of at least twelve billion cubic meters.

“On Monday, Syria's Ministry of Energy announced the opening of three spillway gates at the Euphrates Dam in Raqqa Governorate, for the first time in more than three decades, to ensure the dam's safety after the river's water level rose above its normal rate, amid emergency plans and warnings to residents of a potential flood”

Al-Jazeera Net

Le Monde.fr cited the UN humanitarian agency OCHA warning of "implications humanitaires catastrophiques" from any damage to the barrage, while describing how the basin up to the Iraqi border and its hundreds of thousands of residents could be affected.

Al-Jazeera Net reported that Syria’s Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management, Riad al-Saleh, urged residents in Aleppo, Raqqa, and Deir ez-Zor to take the utmost care and caution, and it quoted the Syrian Civil Defense urging people to immediately stay away from the river and its banks, evacuate homes and shops near the river, and avoid using watercraft or earthen bridges.

In the same Al-Jazeera Net account, the Euphrates dams’ water releases were described as reaching above the planned level of about 290 cubic meters per second to around 800 cubic meters per second, with a possibility of rising to 1000 cubic meters per second, and the article said the wave may last between 15 and 30 days.