Tunisia: Record rainfall causes deadly floods

Torrential rains and flooding in northeastern Tunisia have left at least four people dead, including two sisters, according to the country’s interior ministry.

A 60-year-old man drowned near the town of Takilsa, 60km east of the capital, Tunis, and another man was found dead in Bir Bouregba, close to the town of Hammamet, ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag told AFP news agency on Sunday.

In Bou Argoub, 45km southeast of the capital, two sisters were swept away by flash floods as they left the factory where they worked, Zaag said.

All four died on Saturday.

Severe thunderstorms have hit the North African country since the middle of last week, flooding roads and damaging property.

The destruction has sparked anger among citizens against the authorities for allegedly failing to maintain drainage systems.

Some areas on Saturday received as much as 197mm of rainfall, half the country’s annual precipitation, Zaag said.

Videos posted on social media showed surging waters sweeping away cars and pieces of road in the north of the Cap Bon peninsula.

https://twitter.com/tetovanews/status/1043630285387120640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Authorities took preventive measures in the Sahel region further south in anticipation of more rains, but by Sunday the floods appeared to have subsided.

The sun was out on Sunday and receding water levels meant most of the area’s roads were passable by car, Zaag said, although the region’s telephone networks were still largely out of service.