BAGHDAD, Iraq – As the intense summer heat bears down on them, Iraqis are coping by swimming in the Tigris and sleeping on their roofs. But frequent power outages are testing their almost legendary endurance in the sweltering summer months.
Some in Baghdad have stopped sleeping on their roofs because they fear that U.S. helicopters could mistake them for insurgents. And everyone in the city is coping with power outages that, in Baghdad, currently average 12 hours or more every day.
The outages are the thing that Iraqis single out as the defining evidence of the perceived failure of 14 months of U.S. occupation.
It is not uncommon in Baghdad for temperatures in the shade to hit 120 degrees or higher in July and August. At its peak, normally around 2 p.m., the heat becomes intense. Winds during the two months are called “somoum,” or poisons.
“I am not Superman,” said Abbas Khodeir, a Baghdad traffic policeman, after retreating into the shade on a recent 114-degree day. His replacement was 40 minutes late, and Khodeir, sweating and exhausted, was not prepared to spend more time in the sun to direct rush hour traffic at Baranah square.
In a conservative society where most women adhere to Islam’s strict dress code – covering hair-to-toe, or wearing the traditional cloaklike black abayah – males have more freedom to deal with the heat.
Many boys cool off in the Tigris. Road workers lighten their clothes and some go topless. It’s not uncommon for men to go out in shorts and undershirts.
Wassim Abdel-Kareem, a national guardsman on duty in the suburb of Dora, decided to do away with his helmet Saturday – a decision that carries a considerable risk in a city where security forces are a primary target for insurgents.
“I felt pain in my head today, which I think is caused by the heat,” Abdel-Kareem said at a checkpoint. “So, I took off my helmet and put on this soft hat instead.” He kept his body armor.
Osama Sami Makabah, a doctor at the emergency ward of Baghdad’s Yarmouk hospital, said medical teams treat an average of nine heat-related cases every day, including one or two traffic policemen.
By late morning on another recent day, Ali Mohammed had already used his power generator four times since opening his juice store in Baghdad’s Waziriah district.
The fridges must keep running to keep the juice from going bad, he says.
“You cannot run a business like this,” said Mohammed, 50.
Heat similar to that of Baghdad can be found in neighboring Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. But unlike residents of those two wealthy nations, most Iraqis don’t have air-conditioned cars and homes and try to go about their business normally even on the hottest of days.
Associated Press
Boys hose one another down on the street as they try to cope with the heat Saturday in Baghdad, Iraq.
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