Five Dead, Two Missing in Tunisian Flash Floods

Tunisian authorities have confirmed that flash flooding in the country has claimed the lives of five people, while two remain unaccounted for.

According to the interior ministry’s spokesman, Sofian Zaag, two civilians died in the Kef region, while another died in Grombalia, on Wednesday, 17 October.

On the same day, a six-year-old child drowned in Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia and a 40-year-old man was swept away by a seasonal river in the Kasserine province.

Zaag added that two people have been confirmed missing since Wednesday – one in Kasserine, and the other another in Zaghouan in north-eastern Tunisia.

Torrential rain has been wreaking havoc in the central and north-western areas of the country since August, causing water levels to rise in several cities. At least five other people were killed last month in the north-eastern region of Cape Bon.

Government authorities are facing backlash from the public for failing to maintain drainage systems or clear debris from seasonal riverbeds, despite frequent heavy rains in the autumn.