Four Syrian children die in roof collapse in Lebanon amid torrential rain, floods

Four Syrian refugee children have died in northern Lebanon after part of their home was submerged with mud following a downpour that also flooded other homes, damaged a hospital, stranded motorists and disrupted the public water supply in Mount Lebanon and Beirut.

The bodies of two children were recovered from the rubble of the Syrian refugee family's home by civil defence personnel, according to the Lebanese national news agency NNA on Sunday.

The bodies of the remaining two children were being dug out from the house, NNA added. The mudflow had trapped the family in their home, which was located on a hilltop in the Zgharta area.

In Nahr al-Kalb, northwest of Beirut, a child was hospitalised after he and 63 pupils were trapped on two school buses before being rescued by the civil defence.

Flooding also hit the emergency room of the Sacre Coeur Hospital in the Beirut suburb of Hazmieh causing “considerable” damage, a hospital spokesperson told the local L'Orient-Le Jour daily reported.

Over 100 millimeters of rain fell in less than an hour on Friday, surpassing the capacity that Lebanon's infrastructure can deal with.

Lebanon’s outdated infrastructure is unprepared for severe torrential rain, according to caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad.

The country also hosts around two million Syrian refugees - the largest number of refugees per capita, according to government data.

Despite facing discrimination and living in dire conditions amid the current economic crisis in Lebanon, Syrian refugees are unable to return to their home country due to the threat of persecution by the Assad regime.

Lebanon has been facing an unprecedented economic crisis, plunging over 80 percent of the population into poverty.