Emergency Authority's Warning
Syria's Ministry of Emergency Management and Disasters issued a public alert on 24 May 2026 for residents of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor provinces, warning that the Euphrates River will rise sharply after authorities increased the volume of water released through the dam system that regulates the river inside Syria.
The ministry's early-warning specialist said discharge had been raised from 500 to 800 cubic meters per second, and that releases could reach 1,000 cubic meters per second by Sunday evening, lifting the river roughly 2 meters above its normal level.
Why the Dam Is Releasing More Water
The General Establishment of the Euphrates Dam reported a day earlier that reservoirs along the Euphrates had filled past 97 percent of capacity, driven by heavier-than-usual rainfall and steady inflows from upstream.
The decision to lift discharge from about 500 to 800 cubic meters per second, communicated through a Ministry of Energy statement on 23 May, is intended to prevent a sudden surge by stretching the release over several days, particularly in the Jazira region downstream of the dam.
What Residents Have Been Told
The authority said the additional discharge would not, on its own, pose a danger to villages and towns along the riverbed. It nevertheless urged residents to stay away from the water, to refrain from swimming, and to quickly remove farm equipment placed close to the banks, as elevated levels are expected to last several days while turbine operation at the Kediran dam is stepped up.
Earlier in May, the establishment's director said storage in the dam had reached about 15 billion cubic meters, equivalent to roughly 93 percent of maximum capacity.
Three Dams, One Hydraulic Spine
The Euphrates Dam Establishment manages three main dams on the river inside Syria — Tishreen, the Euphrates Dam, and Kediran — with a combined maximum storage capacity of about 16 billion cubic meters. The system regulates irrigation, drinking water and hydroelectric output for a wide arc of the country's north and east, making the management of high-water episodes a consequential infrastructure call this season.
Inflow has improved sharply in recent months, lifting reservoir levels and electricity output but also raising the risk to communities living close to the riverbed. Officials say further rainfall and upstream inflow in the coming days will determine whether releases hold near 800 cubic meters per second or push toward the higher 1,000 mark.