Baghdad, May 1 (AFP\/APP): Iraq on Sunday was yet again covered in a thick sheet of orange as it suffered the latest in a series of dust storms that have become increasingly common.<\/p>\n
Dozens were hospitalised with respiratory problems in the centre and the west of the country.<\/p>\n
A thick layer of orange dust settled across streets and vehicles, seeping into people’s homes in the capital Baghdad.<\/p>\n
Flights were grounded due to poor visibility at airports serving Baghdad and Najaf, with the phenomenon expected to continue into Monday, according to the weather service.<\/p>\n
“Flights have been interrupted at the airports of Baghdad and Najaf due to the dust storm,” the spokesman for the civil aviation authority, Jihad al-Diwan, told AFP.<\/p>\n
Visibility was cited at less than 500 metres (550 yards), with flights expected to resume once weather improves.<\/p>\n
Hospitals in Najaf received 63 people suffering from respiratory problems as a result of the storm, a health official said, adding that the majority had left after receiving appropriate treatment.<\/p>\n
Another 30 hospitalisations were reported in the mostly-desert province of
\nAnbar in the west of the country.<\/p>\n
Iraq was hammered by a series of such storms in April, grounding flights in Baghdad, Najaf and Arbil and leaving dozens hospitalised.<\/p>\n
Amer al-Jabri, of Iraq’s meteorological office, previously told AFP that the weather phenomenon is expected to become increasingly frequent “due to drought, desertification and declining rainfall”.<\/p>\n
Iraq is particularly vulnerable to climate change, having already witnessed record low rainfall and high temperatures in recent years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Baghdad, May 1 (AFP\/APP): Iraq on Sunday was yet again covered in a thick sheet of orange as it suffered the latest in a series of dust storms that have become increasingly common. Dozens were hospitalised with respiratory problems in the centre and the west […]<\/p>\n
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