Heavy water has flooded half of a town in Raqqa province as they are working to prevent the flood from the northern part of the village (200 houses) towards the southern part using dust mounds installed on Raqqa countryside.
The source said that the total area of the town and its agricultural land is estimated at 10,000 acres, with a population of more than 10,000 inhabitants, about 1,200 houses in the town center and small villages and farms in its vicinity, such as the villages of Muhammad al-Thiab and al-Hussein (Raqqa Samra Tahtani) and al-Atara in the south.
The town is separated from Raqqa city from the west by the Balikh River, located at the point of contact with the Euphrates River, which makes it the most affected by increasing the flow of water from the Euphrates dam through the irrigation channel opened by (SDF) last month to the Balikh to prevent ISIS from threatening of collapse of Euphrates Dam west of Raqqa.
The Balikh river is a rich river flowing in the summer and winter.
And what made matters worse - according to sources from locals – ISIS has created bags of stones and soil in the main river, which led to rising water level.
ISIS is trying to use natural barriers such as rivers and valleys and to add large facilities such as irrigation systems, agricultural projects and dams to form a defensive line for its controlled areas and around al-Raqqa, which impedes the progress of the US-backed (SDF) militias. November 2016 launched a military campaign since November 2016.
The fighting between the two sides along air raids have forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee north for safety. They have ended up in mostly random camps and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the largest militia of SDF are preventing people from leaving.
Violent confrontations continue to take place in northern neighborhoods in al-Tabaqa city and its surrounding and surrounding of the Euphrates dam between (SDF) and ISIS six weeks after the battles began around the city.