Jordan floods toll rises to 13

Jordanian rescuers yesterday found the body of a five-year-old girl killed in flash floods that have left a total of 13 people dead in the kingdom, the civil defence said. On Friday torrential rains swept the south of the country, forcing nearly 4,000 tourists to flee the famed desert city of Petra and causing damage to roads, homes and vehicles.

Authorities mobilised emergency services and the armed forces to assist people stricken by rising waters and search for those missing. The five-yearold girl had disappeared in the Madaba region south of the capital Amman when the car she was in was swept away by flooding, the civil defence said.

The discovery of her body yesterday raised the overall death toll since Friday to 13, including a diver for the emergency services, civil defence head Mustafa al-Bazaiha told state television. Twenty-nine people have been injured, including four members of the civil defence and four from the security forces, he said. Search operations that had been under way since Friday were now over, he added.