Late summer floods in the Sahara Desert in Morocco. Due to this, lakes of blue water were formed among the palm trees and sand dunes. A rare sight of this has come to light. The desert of southeastern Morocco is one of the driest places in the world and it rarely rains until late summer. The government says that within two days there has been more rainfall than the annual average. NASA satellites have captured these rare views.
The Moroccan government said that in September many areas received more rainfall than the annual average within two days, whereas the average annual rainfall is less than 250 millimeters. This also includes Tata, which is one of the most affected sectors. Tagounite, a village about 450 kilometers south of the capital Rabat, recorded more than 100 mm of rain in a 24-hour period. It was a wonderful sight for the tourists who came in motor vehicles to see the desert communities of the Sahara and they could not believe their eyes when they saw the sand dunes and the lakes built around the palm trees.
This much rain for the first time in last 50 years
“For the first time in the last 30-50 years, there has been so much rainfall in such a short period of time,” said Houssain Youabeb of Morocco's Directorate General of Meteorology. Such rain, which meteorologists are calling an extratropical storm, could actually change the direction of the region's weather in the coming months and years as the air retains more moisture, leading to more evaporation and more storms, Uyabe said. Let's come.
Six consecutive years of drought have created challenges for much of Morocco, forcing farmers to leave fields fallow and forcing cities and villages to limit water consumption. This heavy rain will likely help replenish the large groundwater reserves beneath the desert that desert communities depend on for their water supply. The region's reservoirs reported refilling at record rates throughout September. However, it is not clear how much the September rains will help in providing drought relief.
However, sand and water flowing from oases killed more than 20 people in Morocco and Algeria and also damaged farmers' crops. This forced the government to allocate emergency relief funds. NASA satellites showed that Lake Iriki, a famous lake between Zagora and Tata that had been dry for 50 years, was filling rapidly.
