With at least 95 deaths having been reported across southern and eastern Spain since Tuesday after Dana’s devastating floods and rainstorms, experts are now warning that Morocco might be at risk of similar extreme weather phenomena in the future.
As climate change has accelerated, countries in southern Europe and north Africa have been facing unprecedented numbers of flash floods and extreme weather.
In early September, Morocco’s desert plains experienced extreme flooding across 17 different provinces. Sand dunes were transformed into lakes.
The towns of Tata and Tiznit experienced the worst of the extreme weather, reporting 20 deaths linked directly to flash floods, which then hit the area again in mid-September.
The two-day rainfall that caused the flooding was higher than the annual average rainfall in several nearby areas that typically have less than 25.4 centimeters of rain a year.
According to the Moroccan government, nearly 10 centimeters of rain were recorded in only 24 hours at the time the floods occurred.
NASA satellites showed the results of the unusual deluge of rainfall. The images revealed rivers of water pouring into Lake Iriqui, situated between Zagora and Tata, a lake that had been dry for 50 years!
Environmental expert Mustapha Benramal told Barlamane that the surge of extreme weather phenomena in North Africa and Southern Europe is triggered by cold, moisture-laden air masses from the north colliding with warm, arid air from the south, especially from tropical zones.
When the two masses collide, they can quickly result in heavy rainfall and snowfall in mountainous regions, especially in Morocco, which has recorded substantial snow accumulation across its mountains, Benramal noted.
Although occasional floods and heavy rainfall are normal, the intensity at which the two regions are experiencing unusual weather is a cause for concern, he said.
Storms such as the one that raged through Spain on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, are a clear indicator of the danger of climate change.
Benramal urged nations on both sides of the Mediterranean to cooperate and accelerate their efforts to address the phenomena.