BEIRUT: Heavy rains from a storm earlier this week killed one man and damaged properties and crops in north and south Lebanon.

Walid Kanj, 37, lost control of his car on his way home as the torrent swept the road leading to Bishtayel, a village in Dinnieh. The torrent carried Kanj for nearly a kilometer, dumping his body in the Bzummar Valley, the National News Agency reported.

Kanj’s remains were found late Wednesday evening after his family reported him missing. His body was taken to the Dinnieh public hospital.

Heavy rain caused mudslides, isolating villages and damaging main roads, especially in the village of Qarhaya where four houses were devastated.

Several houses were also leveled and crops destroyed in the villages of Azqi, Kfar Habo and Ayoun al-Samak.

Ali Hamo, a mukhtar in the village of Qarhaya, urged Higher Relief Committee officials to inspect the damage. He said that collapsed buildings had rendered roads separating the village from the fields impassable, according to local residents.

Similar rain-related damage was faced by residents in the region of Qaitea in Akkar. Municipal officials urged Prime Minister Najib Mikati to instruct the HRC to inspect the damage and allocate necessary financial compensation to property owners. MPs Ahmad Fatfat, Qassem Abdel-Aziz and Kazem Kheir, from Minyeh and Dinnieh, also called on the HRC to dispatch teams to the region.

They also made an appeal to President Michel Sleiman, in a joint statement, to instruct the relevant authorities to inspect the damage, advising against procrastination.

In Nabatieh, south Lebanon Governor Nicolas Bou Daher issued an evacuation order for two residential buildings in the village of Saksakieh following the storm, after cracks were discovered in the structures.