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Severe Flooding in Morocco: Four Dead, Fourteen Missing Due to Intense Storms

Climate and Weather

Authorities, Phenomenon, Conditions, Drought

Business Honor
08 September, 2024

Heavy rains cause deadly flooding in Morocco's Tata province, resulting in four dead and 14 missing

Moroccan authorities reported Sunday that four people have died and 14 are missing due to the severe flooding caused by an exceptional climate phenomenon in the southern province of Tata. Heavy rains, which began on Friday, have devastated the region, located some 740 kilometers south of Rabat.

Eight houses were swept away, and the death toll may rise in the Tamanart area, according to local officials. The flooding occurred following an unstable tropical air mass that brought violent thunderstorms with heavy downfalls of rain into drier ground, according to Moroccan General Directorate of Meteorology Spokesperson Lhoussaine Youabd.

Ouarzazate saw some of its streets flooded, as the area received 47 millimeters of rain in three hours. Tagounite, a local town, recorded much more dramatic rainfall, at 170 millimeters. Those are the same conditions after six years of drought, which have water resources almost out of the tap in Morocco, as dam levels dropped to less than 28 percent of capacity by the end of August.

Flooding has also reported one death and a missing person in neighboring Algeria. Officials said that a young girl was swept away in Illizi and more families have been evacuated from the rising waters in the country.

Heavy rains accompanied by winds that had reached a speed of up to 100 kilometers per hour had created unusual atmospheric conditions with the result that the sky turned orange. So far, residents have not seen such intense rainfalls in nearly a decade.