QAMISHLI — Local authorities in northeast Syria have suspended operations at a hydroelectric dam for a week due to low water levels, two officials said Wednesday, leaving several million people at risk of power outages.

Tishreen Dam in the northern province of Aleppo will be out of service through March 8, said an online statement from Amal Khozayem, co-chair of the energy office in the semi-autonomous region of northeast Syria.

Khozayem said water levels at the dam were "nearing dead level," the point at which a dam's water is so low the pipes drawing water from it are exposed.

Although the dam would not produce electricity, drinking and irrigation water would be available, she added.

Syria has suffered erratic rainfall in recent years that has severely reduced its wheat crop. Similar droughts and wheat shortages preceded the outbreak of protests in the country in 2011.

Last year, levels at Syria's Euphrates dams fell by up to five meters, depleting reservoirs and leaving farmers struggling to access the remaining water reserves.

Hammoud al-Hammadin, an administrator at Tishreen Dam, told Reuters that the dam's suspension could impact electricity provision for seven million people.

In written comments, he said it was a worrying sign.

"We're in the winter season," Hammadin said, "when we are supposed to be at peak storage, but today we've reached the lowest water level in the history of the dam since it was flooded."