At least 37 dead after flash floods hit Morocco’s Safi 

At least 37 have been killed in flash floods triggered by torrential rains in Morocco’s Atlantic coastal province of Safi, according to authorities.

State-owned broadcaster SNRT News on Monday quoted local authorities as saying at least 14 people had received hospital treatment, including two in the intensive care unit, after the sudden bout of heavy rain on Sunday.

Images on social media showed a torrent of muddy water sweeping cars and rubbish bins from the streets in the town of Safi, located some 300km (186 miles) south of the capital, Rabat. At least 70 homes and businesses in the historic old city were flooded after just one hour of heavy rain, according to the authorities.

In a statement, the Safi governorate said search and rescue operations were ongoing and necessary measures had been taken to secure the affected areas and provide support to residents.

Resident Marouane Tamer, quoted by the AFP news agency, questioned why government trucks had not been dispatched to pump out the water.

Damage to roads cut off traffic along several routes to and from the port city on the Atlantic coast.

Casablanca-based newspaper Le Matin said provincial road 2300 linking Safi to Hrara, a town located 20.5km (12.7 miles) to the northeast, had been particularly affected.

The newspaper said the provincial directorate of national education in Safi had suspended classes in all schools on Monday.

By Sunday evening, the water level had receded, leaving people to pick through a mud-sodden landscape to salvage belongings.

As teams searched for other possible casualties, the weather service forecast more heavy rain on Tuesday across the country.

Morocco is experiencing heavy rain and snowfall in the Atlas Mountains, following seven years of drought that emptied some of its main reservoirs.

The country’s General Directorate of Meteorology said 2024 was Morocco’s hottest year on record.

Heavy rain in 2021 caused the death of 24 people, after there was a flood in an illegal underground textile workshop in a private house in Tangier, the state news agency reported at the time.

In 2014 and 2015, torrential rains also caused widespread flooding in Morocco.

Sunday’s floods came shortly after a separate disaster last week, which saw 19 people killed and 16 injured by the collapse of two buildings in Morocco’s historic city of Fes.