“People have never seen this”

A rare and deadly phenomenon. According to a latest count published Monday evening, September 9 by the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior, eighteen people died due to the torrential rains that fell Friday and Saturday in several regions of the kingdom. A Spanish national, another Canadian and a third Peruvian are among the victims. The toll is particularly heavy in the province of Tata, southeast of Agadir, where ten deaths were recorded in the flooded douars of Igmir and Aoukerda alone, in the immediate vicinity of the Tamanart wadi.

Perched at an altitude of 1,000 metres in the Anti-Atlas, the two villages, stuck in the deep gorges of Smouguen, were ravaged by an avalanche of muddy waters that caused several buildings to collapse. Rescue operations began on Sunday when the army arrived, but residents are still believed to be under the rubble. At least four people are missing.

As a sign of the extreme violence of the flood, bodies were carried away by the river for more than 30 kilometers, according to witnesses. “There are people who are 90 years old who say they have never seen anything like it. I myself do not remember ever having witnessed such a flood.”says Ahmed Bouzihay, the mayor of the commune of Fam El-Hisn, further south.

The water took everything away

No victims in the other douars, but oases partially destroyed. In Anamer, 90 % of palm trees are on the ground, warns Moussa Oumoussi, member of a local development association. “Some were centenarians, which is evidence of the rare violence of these rains.” Roads, wells and electricity and drinking water networks have not been spared either.

The intensity of the rainfall has stunned the population. In just twelve hours, it exceeded 50 millimeters in some places, while it has hardly rained here since 2014, assures Lahcen Ahouate, the president of the NGO Alcesdam, which fights against desertification in Tata. “People got used to the drought and ended up building near the wadi, without realizing that one day or another it would end up reclaiming its rights.”

Videos shared by residents show the houses and small buildings of Igmir, some of them new, bordering the wadi by just a few meters. The water has swept away everything: trees, road, electricity poles, walls, cars…

Similar floods killed five people in the semi-desert region of Drâa-Tafilalet, east of Marrakech, while three more people died in the predominantly arid region of Tiznit. The rainfall record was reached in the Zagora region, close to the Sahara, where more than 200 millimeters fell in two days. “It was spectacular. We were afraid that the river [l’oued Drâa] overflows and floods us, but fortunately, that did not happen.”says a relieved hotelier.

Two opposing air masses

“The recorded rainfall represents about half of the normal annual rainfall in some affected regions. In several areas, it even exceeded the usual annual averages, which underlines the exceptional nature of the event”indicates the General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM). In all the areas concerned, nearly sixty houses collapsed, according to the authorities.

At the origin of this climatic outburst, the convergence of two opposing air masses: one hot and humid from the south, the other cold from the north. Their meeting led to the formation of unstable clouds which triggered torrential rains followed by floods, in a very short space of time. “The relief played a role in concentrating this precipitation, with mountains and hills directing water into valleys and basins, which increased water levels in the wadis.”specifies Lhoussaine Youabd, the spokesperson for the DGM.

Similar episodes have already been observed in Morocco, such as in 2014, when devastating floods hit the semi-arid province of Guelmim, in the center of the country. But then it was a flow coming from the Atlantic. In a rare occurrence, this time it is the unusual rise towards the kingdom of the intertropical front, close to the equator, which is at fault. An instability that should ease in the coming days, the DGM counting on a gradual return to normal.