In the predominantly-Shiite north-eastern district of Sadr City, the area surrounding Fatima al-Zahra hospital was completely flooded, and patients said trips that normally took 15 minutes had taken them as long as two hours. "They told me I need to go and get an ultrasound from outside the hospital, but we do not know where to go, we are afraid the roads will be flooded and we will not be able to come back," said a woman who identified herself only as Umm Laith, or mother of Laith.
The 38-year-old said her sister-in-law, who was nine months pregnant, took two hours to reach the hospital earlier on Wednesday. A medic who spoke on condition of anonymity said four family members - two men and two women - were killed and another woman injured when their house in the north-eastern outskirts collapsed Tuesday night due to the heavy rainfall.
The Iraqi Meteorological Organisation reported on Wednesday that 6.75 centimetres (2.56 inches) of rain fell in Baghdad a day earlier, which its chief said was the highest such figure in 30 years. The heavy rain spurred the government to declare Wednesday a national holiday, the fourth time this year it has been forced to do so because of bad weather. The other three were due to heat during Iraq's boiling summer.