South-eastern Morocco, one of the world’s driest regions, rarely sees rain in late summer. However, two days of intense rainfall last month surpassed the annual average in many areas that typically receive less than 250mm a year. In Tagounite, a village about 280 miles south of Rabat, over 100mm fell in just 24 hours.
This extraordinary rainfall, unprecedented in decades, transformed the landscape, with stunning scenes of water flowing through the Saharan sands alongside desert flora and ancient castles. Tourists in the area navigated through puddles in 4x4s, while residents looked on in amazement.
“It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short time,” noted Houssine Youabeb from Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology. Meteorologists attribute the rains to an extratropical storm, which could reshape the region’s weather patterns in the coming months and years by increasing moisture in the air and leading to more evaporation and storm activity.
Following six consecutive years of drought that have forced farmers to leave fields uncultivated and prompted water rationing in cities, this rainfall could help replenish large groundwater aquifers essential for desert communities. Dams across the region reported record refills in September, though it remains uncertain how much this will mitigate the ongoing drought.
While the rain brought much-needed water, it also resulted in over 20 fatalities in Morocco and Algeria and damaged agricultural harvests, prompting the government to release emergency relief funds, especially in areas affected by last year’s earthquake. NASA satellite images captured the rare sight of water filling Lake Iriqui, a well-known lakebed that had been dry for half a century.
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