Cairo - Rare torrential rains across the Middle East swept away homes, marooned resort towns and killed seven people Monday, including a British tourist, in what officials are calling the worst flooding in at least a decade.

The flooding along Egypt's Red Sea coast, the border with Israel and in the south left six people dead.

Rains of this magnitude, which began Sunday night, are rare in this largely arid region and where heavy precipitation can result in sudden and deadly flash floods.

A British tourist sailing down the Nile near the southern Egyptian city of Aswan died when his sail boat capsized in the heavy winds and sudden rain. The victim's wife and two companions, a Canadian and an Indian, survived, according Maj. Gen. al-Shafei Hassan, chief of criminal investigation in Aswan.

The heavy rains also washed away a dozen mud brick homes in southern Egypt and killed two women there. Scores of families in Aboul-Rish village in Aswan slept overnight outdoors after their homes were destroyed.

In neighboring Israel, a woman drowned when her car was caught in a flash flood.

The heavy rains also killed one woman, left 14 missing and damaged the roof of Sharm el-Sheik's old airport, authorities said. Mohammed al-Kiki, a local government official, said a flash flood overcame a dam and a man was killed near the border with Israel.

Finally in the Red Sea resort town of Hurghada, a 24-year-old Egyptian woman drowned when flooding swept her off a main road, according to the state news agency.