A rare deluge of rain left blue lagoons of water among the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara, feeding some of the driest areas with more water than they had seen in decades.
The desert of southeastern Morocco is among the driest places in the world and rain rarely falls in late summer.
The Moroccan government said rainfall over two days in September exceeded the annual average in several areas that receive less than 25 centimeters annually, including Tata, one of the areas worst affected. In Tagounite, a village about 450 kilometers south of the capital Rabat, more than 10 cm was measured in a 24-hour period.
The storms left striking images of water rushing through the sands of the Sahara, amid castles and desert flora. NASA satellites showed water rushing in to fill Lake Iriqui, a famous lakebed between Zagora and Tata that had been dry for 50 years.
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According to NASA, such an event is so rare in the region that a lake in Algeria, Sebkha el Melah, was filled only six times between 2000 and 2021.
In desert communities frequented by tourists, 4x4s drove through the puddles and residents admired the scene.
“It has been 30 to 50 years since we have had so much rain in such a short time,” said Houssine Youabeb of the Moroccan Directorate General of Meteorology.
Such rains, which meteorologists call an extratropical storm, could change the course of the region’s weather in coming months and years as the air retains more moisture, causes more evaporation and generates more storms, Youabeb said.
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Six consecutive years of drought have challenged much of Morocco, forcing farmers to leave their fields fallow and cities and towns to ration water.
The abundant rainfall is likely to help replenish the large aquifers beneath the desert, which are needed to supply water to desert communities. The region’s dammed reservoirs reported being replenished at a record pace in September. However, it is unclear to what extent the rain in September will help alleviate the drought.
The water that flowed through the sand and oases killed more than 20 people in Morocco and Algeria and damaged farmers’ crops, forcing the government to release emergency aid funds, including in some areas affected by earthquake last year.
