Floods in southern Morocco kill 11 people, leave 9 missing

Heavy rains have caused floods that have killed at least 11 people and left nine missing in Morocco's southern provinces, authorities said on Sunday, UNN reports citing France 24.

Details

On Sunday, Moroccan authorities told AFP that 11 people were killed and nine were missing as a result of flooding caused by an "exceptional" climatic phenomenon in the southern regions.

Interior Ministry spokesman Rashid Khalfi said that the authorities recorded an initial "death toll of 11 people" after "severe thunderstorms" hit "17 prefectures and provinces of the kingdom.

According to Khalfi, seven of the victims were killed in Tata province, about 740 kilometers south of Rabat, and two in Rashidiya, almost 500 kilometers east of Marrakech.

He said that one of the victims had foreign citizenship, without providing further details.

Khalfi also said that "the amount of rainfall recorded in two days is equivalent to what is normally seen in these regions throughout the year.

The floods also led to the collapse of 40 buildings and damage to 93 roads, and "disrupted electricity, drinking water and telephone networks," he added.

Usually arid areas in southern Morocco and Algeria have been inundated by floods caused by heavy rains since Friday, officials told AFP on Sunday.

Areas in southern Morocco have been affected by an "extremely unstable tropical air mass," said Lhoussen Youbd, a representative of Morocco's General Directorate of Meteorology.

This "resulted in the formation of unstable and heavy clouds" that caused heavy downpours, he said, calling the phenomenon "exceptional.

As a result, 47 millimeters of precipitation fell in the Ouarzazate region in three hours, and Taghounit, located near the border with Algeria, received about 170 millimeters, according to the Moroccan Meteorological Service.

"We haven't seen this kind of rain in about 10 years," Omar Gana, a local resident of Ouarzazate, told AFP.

Heavy rains hit regions of Morocco that have been suffering from drought for at least six years.

Videos posted on social media show that some areas of the Sahara Desert were flooded. In Ouarzazate, Morocco, entire streets were flooded.

Addendum

Morocco is experiencing severe water shortages after six consecutive years of drought, which reduced the level of dam capacity to less than 28 percent by the end of August.