Floods in Albania kill two people

Floods caused by heavy rains pouring at the weekend killed two men in Albania's northwestern Shkodra region, police said in a statement on Sunday.

A 50-year-old man and his 18-year-old son died after their car was swept away by a stream while they were driving on a mountain road near Shkrel, the statement added.

Locals rescued a 14-year-old girl who was travelling with her brother and father whose bodies have not been found yet, police said.

At least seven families had to be evacuated from their homes in the Shkodra region, some 140 kilometres (87 miles) north of Tirana, while many others are threatened by floods and landslides, a defence ministry statement said.

Several hundred hectares (acres) of land in the region of Shkodra and nearby Lezha were flooded while local residents described the situation as "critical" after many streams burst their banks, damaging homes and infrastructure.