3 more die in Egypt from flooding, raising death toll from weather to 10

3 more die in Egyptian desert flooding

RAFAH, Egypt — Three more Egyptians died in flooding in the southern Sinai Desert Wednesday, bringing the toll for three days of unseasonably heavy rains to 10, said a health official.

The arid region is unused to heavy rains which cause flash floods that can destroy homes and carry off livestock.

Bedouins angry that the government was downplaying the magnitude of their losses clashed with security forces in South Sinai and injured a senior police officer and two of his men, said Mohammed Fayez, the head of the emergency medical unit in the province.

The Bedouins, who have long had uneasy relations with authorities, burnt car tires, blocked a main road and set fire to a truck, maintaining that the government was underreporting their losses and not sending sufficient aid.

Heavy wind and rains swept through parts of Egypt, Israel and Jordan on Monday, sweeping away homes, knocking out power lines and cutting roads.

One motorist died in Israel and 10 died in Egypt, including a British tourist whose boat capsized as he was sailing along the Nile in southern Egypt.

Egypt’s state news agency said President Hosni Mubarak, who has been touring the stricken areas in Aswan, ordered $4,500 in compensation for each family that lost its home, and lesser amounts for those just damaged.

Some 441 mud brick homes were damaged in Aswan and another 250 in Sinai forcing some 1,500 to spend the night in schools and youth centers, the agency reported.