Rescue operations continue as floods kill two children in eastern Algeria

Heavy rainfall all week has damaged roads, homes and infrastructure

Flooding in Fkirina, Oum El Bouaghi province, Algeria. Photo: Algerian Civil Defence

Rescue operations and evacuations continue in eastern Algeria as the country suffers the aftermath of floods and heavy rainfall, Algerian civil defence officials said on Friday.

Authorities said that two children died on Thursday in north-east Algeria as a result of the bad weather, a seven-year-old girl in the province of Guelma and a nine-year-old boy in the province of Tipasa.

The Algerian ministry of interior said that the boy died in Djebbalah Khemissi, in Guelma province, after floods caused a stadium wall to collapse on him.

Civil defence was able to retrieve the body of the seven-year-old girl, who was washed away by the heavy current.

Eastern governorates such as El Taref, Souk Ahras, Constantine, Stif and Tebessa on the Tunisian border also recorded increasing levels of rainfall in the past few days, reaching 50 millimetres per hour in some areas.

The floods have trapped dozens of citizens in their homes, schools and cars. Houses were also damaged or destroyed, vehicles swept from roads and transport severely disrupted.

Algeria and neighbouring Tunisia also suffered heavy rain and storms earlier in the month.

In Tunisia, authorities said that a female farmer died on Wednesday in Kasserine, in the west of the country, after heavy floods swept her away.

Algerian authorities have established a central crisis cell at the ministry of interior, and local ones respectively in damaged areas.

Civil defence said that they have been working around the clock to evacuate a large number of citizens whose homes flooded. They are also trying to reach civilians stuck in remote areas after the closure of some roads.

Algerian Gendarmerie Command announced a list of road closures, due to high water levels, including the road leading to the Melloula border crossing with Tunisia.

Authorities told citizens to follow the civil defence's instructions and avoid taking risks.

Algeria suffers from floods almost every year. In 2001, floods killed 800 people.

Since then, authorities have launched new preventive measures as part of wider natural disaster protocols.