Tens of thousands of families in northern Morocco have been uprooted from their homes after relentless heavy rains triggered widespread flooding over the past week.
It all started with a urgent call blaring from the local mosque’s loudspeakers, warning Kasia El Selami that it was time to escape as the floodwaters surged through her village of Ouled Ameur. The 67-year-old grandmother grabbed what she could and fled, her heart pounding with worry for her family.
She’s now one of more than 150,000 people who’ve been evacuated, finding temporary shelter in camps set up by authorities. “We were terrified, especially for the kids,” she shared, as she hung a blanket outside her small tent.
Tragically, the floods have claimed four lives so far, including a two-year-old child, and one person is still unaccounted for. Rescuers have been working tirelessly, pulling people including children and the elderly from rooftops using boats and even helicopters. Roads and farmlands in several areas are completely submerged.
Just outside Kenitra, about 50 kilometers north of Rabat, a massive camp of blue tents has become home to nearly 40,000 displaced people like Selami and her children. Life here is tough—families are making the best of it with limited resources. One woman was spotted washing clothes in a tiny basin right next to a makeshift pen holding rescued cows, horses, chickens, and sheep. Nearby, others lined up patiently outside a mobile clinic for medical help.
These are “very difficult days,” said 60-year-old Ali Al Aouni, shivering in the cold and still shaken. His kids are traumatized, and he remembers the water rising to about a meter and a half in his village. “We’re scared to go back in case it happens again.” His oldest son stayed behind to guard their belongings, sending anxious updates as the waters kept climbing.
Civil defense teams are distributing essentials like mattresses, warm clothes, and food, along with health check-ups for people and their animals.
Selami is already longing to return. “We’re just waiting for this nightmare to end so we can go home,” she said.
This isn’t the first time—last December, sudden floods in Safi took 37 lives, marking the country’s worst weather disaster in a decade. Neighboring countries haven’t been spared either: recent severe weather in Algeria claimed two lives, including a child; Tunisia saw at least five deaths and more missing after its heaviest rains in over 70 years; and even Portugal and Spain have been hit by storms and downpours lately.