UNFPA Mobile Teams Reach Flood-Affected Communities Along the Euphrates in Rural Raqqa

62-year-old Asa’ad has spent many years farming and fishing in Hewija Al Sawafi village in rural Raqqa. This year, he felt hopeful—winter rains had been plentiful, and the crops showed great promise. But just days ago, disaster struck when the Euphrates River flooded, destroying numerous homes, farms, and agricultural projects along its banks in the Raqqa and Deir Ezzor governorates in eastern and northeastern Syria.

In Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor, a UNFPA-supported mobile team provides lifesaving reproductive health and protection services, such as postnatal care to women like the one in this photo.

“I never expected the water to rise so high that it reached my home and ruined our farmland. It all happened so fast,” said Asa’ad, a father of seven.

Asa’ad’s family originally comes from rural Aleppo, having moved to Raqqa years ago in search of work and a better life. Although the flood engulfed both their house and field, causing heavy losses, they still consider themselves fortunate to have escaped drowning.

The flood completely or partially destroyed several fruit and vegetable fields and farms, including this one in East Shareeda village in rural Raqqa.

“I own a small fishing boat that usually doesn’t run well. But at that critical moment, it started on the first try. I used it to move my family to a safe place,” Asa’ad recalled.

After escaping the rising water, Asa’ad and his family found help at a mobile clinic supported by UNFPA—one of several deployed to provide life-saving reproductive health and protection services to flood-affected communities. The clinic offered a range of care, including antenatal and postnatal services, family planning, psychosocial support, and distribution of dignity kits.

Now, Asa’ad is waiting for the floodwaters to recede so he can return home and assess the damage to his field. It’s the only option he has. “The damage is done, for sure, but we must do what we can to lessen the impact of the disaster,” he added.

A UNFPA-supported mobile team assesses the flood damage in rural Raqqa to coordinate the distribution of emergency aid and health services to displaced families

For people like Asa'ad and his family, the recent flood was only the latest in a long series of struggles—years of displacement, broken infrastructure, and scarce basic services had already worn them down. Recognizing this accumulated vulnerability, UNFPA and its partners deployed those mobile clinics along the devastated banks of the Euphrates River, offering critical, life-saving support to communities that had already endured so much.