HIGLIGHTS: An Elderly Woman Was Killed & Another Died of Injuries|| Dam Built 1996||In Areas Submerged Under 13 Feet, Floods Receded Quickly to 3 Inches||Cause of Collapse Being Investigated|| STORY: A dam collapsed in northern Syria and flooded several villages Tuesday, killing at least two people, residents said. Some people fled into mountains in a search for higher ground. After the Zeyzoun Dam burst, villagers said some areas were submerged under 13 feet of water. But the flood receded quickly and hours after the afternoon collapse, they said the level was down to about four inches.

The dam, which was built in 1996, burst near the town of Idlib, about 220 miles north of Damascus, the Syrian capital. It is on the Orontes River. (Read map caption)

In the nearby village of Ziara, a little more than a mile from the dam, residents described a sudden deluge of water flooding homes and farmland shortly after 2 p.m.

"When the water started coming, I took my children and wife and ran into the mountains," said Yasser Ibrahim, 33, a farmer. Residents said at least two helicopters were helping evacuate people.

Ibrahim said an elderly woman from the village was killed in the flooding, and another woman died of injuries in a local hospital. "The water took them," he said.

As night fell, men from Ziara returned to the village to inspect the damage. Ibrahim said he left his family behind on high, safer ground until it was safe for them to return.

SANA, the official Syrian news agency, said the Ministry of Irrigation had set up an emergency committee to coordinate rescue efforts and to determine what caused the collapse.

Ali Abdullah, owner of a gas station about 30 miles from the dam, said that people stopping at the station told him that two other villages, Zeyzoun and Qastoun, were also inundated.

Villagers looking for a dry patch of land to spend the night said most of the water from the dam was quickly absorbed by the swollen river.

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A country of fertile plains, mountain ranges and deserts, Syria is home to many diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Alawite Shi'is and Druze, as well as the Arab Sunni Muslim majority.