Nine dead as floods hit Algeria

ALGIERS (AFP) – Eight people were swept away by flash floods and a ninth was killed by lightning as more thunderstorms lashed southwestern Algeria, the civil defense agency told the state news service APS Saturday.

Four people drowned at El Bayadh, some 700 kilometers (450 miles) southwest of Algiers late Friday, the agency said.

A woman, her daughter and two male relatives also died when their vehicle was caught by a flash flood in a river bed in the district of Naama, 600 kilometers southwest of the capital.

Another person had been struck by lightning shortly beforehand in the same area.

The latest deaths brought the toll to nine since Tuesday, including three children swept away at El Bayadh on Wednesday and a regional official drowned in the Laghouat district, 400 kilometers south of the capital, on Thursday.

The storms have also affected neighboring Morocco, where five people have been reported killed.