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ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- Torrential rains in the Algerian Sahara caused flash floods that killed 30 people and injured dozens in a historic oasis region, officials in the North African nation said Thursday.
Hundreds of people had to be rescued by helicopter, and up to 600 houses were destroyed in the rains Tuesday and Wednesday around the medieval town of Ghardaia, the official APS news agency said. Security services and the military were helping in the rescue operations.
The country's head of public health, Ali Belkhir, told national radio that 29 people had died. But the region's governor said 30 were counted dead by late Thursday, APS said.
The storms this week caused a local wadi --or seasonal river that remains dry for most of the year -- to rise at some points by 26 feet within hours, APS said.
While Belkhir said 84 people had been injured, the Interior Ministry lowered that number to 48, including three people who have been hospitalized in serious condition.
The army has been deployed in Ghardaia to prevent looting, APS quoted the ministry as saying. It reported some 400 tons of food were being sent to the zone, along with 1,000 tents and 200,000 blankets.
There was concern that drinking water was contaminated, and authorities were working to reopen damaged roads and downed electricity and gas links.
Phone lines to the area remained disrupted Thursday, and local officials could not be reached for comment.
A town of about 100,000 people, Ghardaia lies about 370 miles (595 kilometers) south of Algiers on the edges of the Sahara Desert in a long and narrow valley known as the M'zab, which is listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
It is the seat of the Mozabite people, who practice a form of dissident Islam unique to their region.
Spanning much of Northern Africa, the Sahara is the world's largest desert and one of the driest. But thunderstorms can occasionally bring massive rains to the region, and the engorged rivers can cause serious damage.
Celebrated explorer and travel writer Isabelle Eberhardt, for instance, drowned in the overflowing wadi where she was camping in the Algerian Sahara in 1904.
In neighboring Morocco, the MAP news agency reported that two people drowned and several were missing in similar floods near the southern city of Marrakech.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
All About Algeria • Floods • Sahara Desert
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