Over 50,000 Moroccans evacuated due to severe weather

More than 50,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in northern Morocco due to severe weather and heavy rainfall affecting several provinces, the interior ministry told the media on Tuesday.

The evacuations began on Friday, mostly in Larache province, where the city of Ksar El Kebir -- about 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Tangier -- has seen significant flooding, the ministry said.

Evacuees were partly taken in by relatives elsewhere, while those requiring assistance were sent to temporary shelters set up by the authorities, according to the ministry.

Morocco's national weather service forecast heavy rains, strong winds and snowfall at altitudes above 1,500 metres from Monday to Wednesday in several provinces.

An emergency vehicle drives through flood waters as residents are evacuated and relocated to other towns as preventive and emergency evacuations are carried out to move residents living near flood-prone areas following the weather alert and the rise in the water level of the Loukkos River, with flooding expected in the coming days, in Ksar El Kebir on Sunday. AFP

Authorities said the Moroccan army had been deployed to support relief efforts on the instructions of King Mohammed VI.

Last December, 37 people were killed in sudden floods in Safi, in Morocco's deadliest weather-related disaster in the past decade.

In recent weeks, severe weather and flooding in neighbouring Algeria killed two people, including a child.

In Tunisia, at least five people are dead, with others still missing, after the country saw its heaviest rainfall in over 70 years last month.

Agence France-Presse