Sandstorms are more common in Iraq year after year. This is due to desertification and drought caused by climate change.
An unusually strong sandstorm has turned cities orange throughout Iraq.
More than a hundred people are said to have been hospitalized due to breathing difficulties in central and western Iraq.
In the capital, Baghdad, and in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, several flights had to be canceled due to poor visibility.
National Aviation Administration spokesman Jihad al-Diwanin according to the visibility was only a few hundred meters in the vicinity of the airports.
Iraqi Meteorological Organization Amer al-Jabrin similar sandstorms will become more common in the future. This is due to desertification and drought, he said.
The country’s environment ministry warns that due to global warming, Iraq could be covered in sand for up to 272 days a year in the future. The ministry is urging people to plant forests and vegetation.