Rare Flooding Hits Sahara Desert After Unprecedented Rainfall in Half a Century

 

Dramatic images have surfaced of the Sahara Desert experiencing its first significant floods in over 50 years following two days of heavy rainfall in September. The rainfall, which far exceeded annual averages, caused flooding in southeast Morocco, according to the country's meteorological agency.

The village of Tagounite, located approximately 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Rabat, recorded over 100mm (3.9 inches) of rainfall in just 24 hours. This downpour filled Lake Iriqui, a dry lake bed situated between Zagora and Tata, for the first time in half a century, as seen in satellite images from NASA.

Houssine Youabeb, an official with Morocco’s meteorological agency, explained that the region had not seen such intense rainfall in decades. "It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short space of time," Youabeb told the Associated Press.

Meteorologists attribute the deluge to an extratropical storm, which could lead to more storms in the region due to increased moisture in the air. "As the air holds more moisture, it promotes evaporation and provokes more storms," Youabeb added.

The floods have had significant consequences, claiming 18 lives in the region last month. The impact has reached areas still recovering from a previous earthquake, with dammed reservoirs in the southeast refilling at record rates during September.

The Sahara Desert, which spans 9.4 million square kilometers (3.6 million square miles) across North, Central, and West Africa, is no stranger to droughts. However, global climate change has intensified extreme weather events, prompting scientists to predict that similar storms may strike the Sahara in the future.

World Meteorological Organization Secretary General, Celeste Saulo, emphasized the growing unpredictability of water cycles due to rising global temperatures. "As a result of rising temperatures, the hydrological cycle has accelerated. It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water," Saulo stated.

The unprecedented rainfall in the Sahara is a stark reminder of the escalating impact of climate change on some of the world’s most arid regions.