Storm Marta kills at least 4 in Morocco as the country battles floods

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Flash floods caused by a storm in northern Morocco killed at least four people as the country struggled with days of heavy rain and water releases from overfilled dams that forced mass evacuations, local authorities said Sunday.

Three children — a girl and two boys aged 2 to 14 — and a man in his 30s died in a car that was swept away in a village near Tétouan, about 270 kilometers (168 miles) north of the capital Rabat, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry citing local authorities. Another person remains missing.

Local authorities said they will open an investigation into what happened.

The flash floods were caused by a storm system known as Marta, which moved into Morocco over the weekend and dumped up to 92 millimeters (3.6 inches) of rain on some northern cities, Houssine Youabed of Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology told The Associated Press. Storm Marta also reached neighboring Spain and Portugal.

Days earlier, another storm, Leonardo, hit northern Africa and the Iberian peninsula. In Morocco, it overfilled dams and rivers, damaging homes and crops, triggering minor landslides and forcing more than 150,000 people to evacuate.

The turbulent weather has also secured at least a year’s supply of drinking water for Morocco and boosted resources for the country’s critical agricultural sector, officials said, providing relief after a yearslong drought.