At least 11 people have died and nine have been missing since Friday in southern Morocco following torrential rains that have been hitting normally arid areas since Friday. They have caused major flooding in the south of the country.
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47 millimeters of water in three hours in the Ouarzazate region, 170 mm near Zagora, in the Draa Valley, not far from the Algerian border. In the last 24 hours, the south of Morocco was hit by impressive thunderstorms which caused the flooding of rivers and floods.
The provisional toll was 11 dead, including 7 in the province of Tata, 740 km southeast of Rabat, 2 in Tiznit (southwest) and 2 in Errachidia (southeast) including one of unspecified foreign nationality, said the spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, Rachi El Khalfi, according to a provisional toll. At the end of August, major floods had already swept away a mother and her daughter, and caused significant damage in the province of Ouarzazate.
Unusual bad weather
According to the spokesperson for the General Directorate of Meteorology in Morocco, humid tropical air masses moved north, meeting cold air masses, which led to the formation of unstable and violent clouds.
An unusual phenomenon for this arid region that occurs at a time when Morocco is currently experiencing a sixth consecutive year of drought. Faced with global warming, Morocco must expect a resurgence of these extreme weather phenomena in the future. The Kingdom had already experienced several episodes of this kind in recent years, particularly ten years ago.
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