At least 30 people have been killed in Morocco after heavy rain and floods, official sources said on Tuesday.
The official MAP news agency said 24 people died when a bus carrying them was swept away by a flooding river in the Atlantic coastal town of Bouznika, south of the capital Rabat.
Four people, including three from the same family, died when heavy rain brought down their homes near the central city of Khenifra and in Sale, near Rabat, MAP said.
A young girl drowned on Tuesday in Tiflet, east of Rabat, when she was swept away while trying to cross a bridge. In the north, one man drowned and rescue services were looking for seven other people swept away by a river in flood.
In Casablanca, schools were ordered to shut on Tuesday after Morocco’s biggest city and business centre received a record 18 cm (7 inches) of rain overnight.
The head of Morocco’s state-run weather service, Abdellah Masqat, told 2M television the heavy rain would continue until Thursday.
News footage from state television station Al-Maghribia showed suburbs of Casablanca submerged.
Flag carrier Royal Air Maroc said flights were disrupted from the country’s main airport in Casablanca because flooding on highways and railway tracks prevented some passengers reaching the airport.
In the capital Rabat, people formed long queues in front of a rare working ATM machine after communication systems of some banks were put out of action.
“The lines are down because of the rain. We can’t process any operation for the moment,” said an employee at a branch of Attijariwafa Bank in downtown Rabat.
