Tunisians wade through mud after floods

Residents of the city of Mohamedia in Tunisia have begun cleaning up the damage caused by floods that killed at least five people in the north of the country.

In some areas, water is sometimes up to two meters at night destroying houses and stalls.

“This is the third time this disaster has occurred, it is not the first time, each time they say that ‘they (the authorities) will do something, we will do something but nothing is done’‘, said Abdelazziz El-Kahbi, a resident of Mohamedia.

“What we want is a permanent solution, once and for all, it’s not enough to just come here, clean up and give us some equipment”, said Raouda Jalassi, another stricken resident of Mohamedia .

In M’Hamdia, a rural village some 15 km south of Tunis, families spent the night on their roofs on the night of Wednesday to Thursday to escape the floods.

Many roads and some railway lines were cut off on Thursday. Schools in greater Tunis and several other regions also remain closed while public transport has been affected according to AFP.

Two people died in the North-West Kef region, a 48-year-old man in Grombalia (north-east), a 40-year-old man in Kasserine (west) and a six-year-old boy in the neighboring region of Sidi Bouzid (center), according to spokesman of the Civil Protection, Moez Triaa.

These floods occur less than a month after torrential rains that had killed at least five people in North-East Cape Bon.

The rainfall on Wednesday night was twice as low as that recorded on September 22 at Cape Bon, but the situation was aggravated by the same factors.

The population complains of the poor maintenance of the water evacuation systems, uncontrolled constructions or the obstruction of wadis a channel that is dry except in the raining season, however crucial to channel the strong floods.

AFP