Blazing heat in Iraq as Baghdad, south top 50˚C

Iraqis grappled on Monday with searing heat in the capital Baghdad and parts of the country's south, where the weather service said temperatures reached 51˚C in the shade.

Iraq's 46 million people face rising temperatures, chronic water shortages and year-on-year droughts, in a country intensely impacted by the effects of climate change.

Summer temperatures often climb to 52˚C, especially in July and August.

On central Baghdad's bustling streets on Monday, people sought respite from the sweltering heat in front of swirling mist fans set up near restaurants and shops.

A man cools himself with water during a heatwave in Basra, Iraq. Reuters

Some pedestrians drenched their faces with cold water purchased from sidewalk vendors, while drivers had to pull over to the roadside to cool down their engines.

The national weather service said the temperature reached 51˚C in Baghdad and in areas to the capital's southeast, from the central Wasit province to Dhi Qar, Missan and Basra in the south.

Another eight provinces hit 50˚C on Monday, with temperatures expected to drop slightly on Wednesday, according to the official Iraq News Agency.

In recent years, Iraqis rallied every summer to protest regular power cuts and water shortages that plague their daily lives.

People swim in the Tigris River to cool down during a heatwave in Baghdad on Monday. Reuters

Hundreds of people protested on Friday and Sunday near the cities of Hilla and Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, blocking roads and burning tyres.

Iraq's water resources ministry has said that "this year is one of the driest since 1933," and that water reserve are down to only eight percent of their full capacity.

A man rinses his head with water from a bottle to cool off as he stands along Al Jumhuriya street in Baghdad. AFP

Authorities blame reduced river flows in part on upstream dams built in neighbouring Iran and Turkey, which Iraq says have dramatically shrunk the once-mighty Tigris and Euphrates whose waters have been crucial for irrigation for millennia.

Temperatures have risen significantly elsewhere in the region, with neighbouring Turkey registering on Saturday 50.5˚C in its southeast, a nationwide record.

Last week, a severe heatwave in Iran disrupted water and electricity supplies in much of the country.

Agence France-Presse