North African floods kill 11 in Morocco and two in Algeria

At least 11 people have been killed in Morocco and two in Algeria after severe thunderstorms across the region caused major flooding.
At least 17 prefectures and provinces have been affected and searches are under way for nine missing people, Morocco’s Interior Ministry spokesman, Rachid Khalfi, said on Sunday evening.
He said the highest death toll had been recorded in the city of Tata, south-east of the coastal city of Agadir and close to the Sahara, where seven people were killed. Two people died in the city of Tiznit, west of Morocco, and two more in the city of Errachidia, on the border with Algeria, including a foreign citizen.
Forty homes have collapsed and there has been damage to 93 national, regional and provincial roads, which led to a disruption in traffic and completely cut off access to some villages.
Mr Khalfi said electricity, drinking water and telecoms networks have been affected.
“The volume of precipitation that we have witnessed in the past two days is equivalent to the number that these regions usually experience for an entire year,” he said.
According to the figures provided by the Moroccan General Directorate of Meteorology, 47mm of rain has been recorded in the Ouarzazate province, while Tagounite near the Algerian border had almost 170mm. The heavily damaged city of Tata recorded 250mm of rain, with 203mm in Tinghir and 114mm in Figuig, local outlets reported.
Algeria’s civil defence also announced on Sunday that they were able to retrieve the body of a 10 year old who drowned after a river overflowed in Tamanrasset governorate, in the south.
“The situation is catastrophic, we have not imagined that such a thing could happen overnight and that the entire city would be affected,” Ibrahim Mourad, Algerian Minister of Interior told the state-owned Algerian TV, on a visit to the flood-ravaged city of Bechar.
Authorities have sent 2,200 civil defence officers and the Algerian military “to get the situation under control”, Mr Mourad said.
He added that 120mm of rain had been recorded so far and that damage includes the collapse of bridges, houses and shops, and the complete shutdown of some sections of railway lines.
Authorities also said a 13-year-old boy was killed in the city of Tendouf, on the southern border with Morocco.
Tunisian authorities have also warned citizens of the risk of flooding in some western governorates.
Videos posted online show heavy rain and rivers overflowing in the Siliana and Beja governorates in the north-west, as well as Sidi Bouzid and the city of Bouficha in the centre of the country.