Stormy rains that occurred on Saturday evening in Morocco’s north-east led to the death of one person, and caused severe damage to olive trees due to falling hailstones that accompanied this violent thunderstorm, in addition to sweeping away farms, roads and water submerging buildings and vital infrastructure.
Boulmane, Nourirt and Guercif have been the most heavily affected areas, as heavy, stormy rains in these regions led to torrential floods that cut off roads, and saw water accumulating in the streets of the two cities and in the center of the eastern city of Laayoune (Taourirt Province), where the torrential rains caused a car to be swept away.
In Boulmane, the storm struck several communities causing heavy losses to the fruits of olive trees due to a strong hailstone shower.
In Taourirt, the storm ended the life of a 17-year-old, after he was swept away by torrents in a valley near Sidi Ali Belkacem, and cut off a number of roads in the region.
The storm also caused the isolation of a number of residential neighborhoods in Taourirt, cutting off the road to the Beni Kollal roundabout due to the collapse of the Wadi Mehraz bridge, submerging a number of cars in the Laayoune Sidi Malouk community in the same province, and blocking the road to and from the bridge located in the middle of the commune.
In the province of Guersif, the thunderstorm led, according to what was reported by local sources, to the collapse of a house in the Zarkan roundabout.
The heavy rainfall also caused the flooding of a number of streets in the city of Guersif, in addition to sweeping away the tents of a number of nomadic shepherds in the Tafrata region, leaving them without shelter.
The torrential floods and landslides also cut the railway line between Fez and Oujda near the railway section linking Taourirt and Guercif, specifically the railway section belonging to the territory of the Laqtitir, where intervention teams continue to repair the damage in order to reopen the railway line to train traffic.
These significant rainfalls contributed to the rise in the levels of the valleys in the regions, as is the case with Wadi Zighit, Wadi Lakhdar and their tributaries.
Social media pages were filled with photos and videos taken by citizens in the aftermath of this storm.
Comments on it appeared angry due to the suffocation of sewerage channels in cities and urban centers, and the inability of infrastructure to confront such climatic conditions, so early in the autumn season.