Ukraine in Arabic | Dozens dead in Morocco following floods
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Thirty-two people are now known to have died in Morocco after floods triggered by heavy rain.
Many buses were swept away and trucks were overturned.
The resort city of Marrakech, highly popular with European tourists, was also affected. Many tour buses were briefly stranded.
Of the confirmed deaths, 24 occurred in the region of Guelmim, a desert town, the interior ministry said. A further six people remained missing.
Flooding, which is quite common in the mostly arid desert region at this time of year, has in the past triggered violent protests by locals angered by officials slow and ineffective response to the natural disaster.
Local residents were pictured on state television reacting angrily as their homes became submerged in brown water near the town of Errachidia.
Its thought the prolonged closure of many national roads could also spark protests.
Morocco's King Mohamed has told authorities to take 'all necessary emergency measures to help and support victims of the floods'.
A woman in the Errachidia region, where around 60 homes were destroyed, was angry at the authorities inability to help and safeguard residents.
She said: 'We have lost everything, everything. Now our families will sleep in the cold.
'Their (the authorities') previous programs to restore our mud houses did not save us, our houses were just swept away' she told local media.
The army deployed helicopters to evacuate dozens of people, including some foreigners, in areas threatened by rising river levels.
Local news websites showed floods sweeping away cars, tracks and roads in several regions, including Guelmim and Marrakesh.
