At least 32 dead from floods in southern Morocco

More than 30 people were killed after heavy rain and floods struck southern Morocco over the weekend, destroying houses, vehicles and roads.

A car is carried away by flood waters. At least 17 people died and 18 others were missing after heavy rain and floods struck southern Morocco over the weekend, destroying houses, vehicles and roads, aShow more

RABAT // At least 32 people were killed after heavy rain and floods struck southern Morocco, destroying houses, vehicles and roads, and forcing the evacuation of more than 200 people.

The three days of flooding were described by residents as the heaviest storms to hit the region in decades.

The storms since Saturday caused flash floods in much of the south at the foot of the Anti-Atlas Mountains. Rescue teams recovered 11 bodies from high waters near Talmaadart river in the Guelmim region, which bore the brunt of the storms, adding to an earlier death tally of 17.

Local authorities said two other people were missing in the same region, while at least five in total were unaccounted for in the stricken areas, including Ouarzazate and Marrakech, where cars and trees were swept away by the raging waters.

A girl of nine was among six people swept away by the Tamsourt River, also in Guelmim, located on the edge of the Sahara desert.

“We haven’t seen anything like this since the floods of 1986 ... People were very scared,” resident Mustapha Al Gemrani said.

Flooding, which is quite common in the mostly arid desert region at this time of year, has in the past triggered violent protests by local people angered by what they see as a tardy or ineffective official response.

State television channel 2M showed local residents expressing anger after their homes were submerged near the town of Errachidia. The prolonged closure of many national roads could prompt further angry protests, media said.

Morocco’s King Mohamed has given orders to the authorities to take “all necessary emergency measures to help and support victims of the floods”.

The authorities have set up crisis cells in the affected zones and the royal palace announced it would cover the expenses of victims’ funerals and medical treatment for the injured.

“We have lost everything, everything. Now our families will sleep in the cold,” said a woman in the Errachidia region, where around 60 houses had been destroyed.

On Sunday, the country’s MAP news agency quoted the interior ministry as saying some 130 all-terrain rescue vehicles and 335 Zodiac inflatables and other boats were involved in search operations.

Rescue operations saved “200 people in danger, among them 40 helped by army and royal guard helicopters”, the interior ministry said.

Around 100 mud-brick homes were partly or destroyed in the south, and 100 roads cut off, including six national highways.

According to the 2M television channel, 25 centimetres of rain fell in just a few hours on some areas.

Four children drowned near Ouarzazate during flash floods in September.

The authorities have stepped up alert systems in valleys of the Atlas region, especially in the tourist area of Ourika, south of Marrakech, where hundreds perished in flash floods in 1995.

A weather alert was finally called off on Monday afternoon.

* Agence France-Presse and Reuters