Sahara desert floods for first time in 50 years

A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara desert, nourishing some of its driest regions with more water than they had seen in decades.

Southeastern Morocco’s desert is among the most arid places in the world and rarely experiences rain in late summer, reports AP.

The Moroccan government said two days of rainfall in September exceeded yearly averages in several areas that see less than 250 millimetres (10 inches) annually, including Tata, one of the areas hit hardest. In Tagounite, a village about 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of the capital, Rabat, more than 100 millimetres (3.9 inches) were recorded in a 24-hour period.

The storms left striking images of water gushing through the Saharan sands amid castles and desert flora. NASA satellites showed water rushing in to fill Lake Iriqui, a famous lake bed between Zagora and Tata that had been dry for 50 years.

In desert communities frequented by tourists, 4x4s motored through the puddles and residents surveyed the scene in awe.

“It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short space of time,” said Houssine Youabeb of Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology.

Six consecutive years of drought have posed challenges for much of Morocco, forcing farmers to leave fields fallow and cities and villages to ration water.

The bounty of rainfall will likely help refill the large groundwater aquifers beneath the desert that are relied upon to supply water in desert communities. The region’s dammed reservoirs reported refilling at record rates throughout September.

However, it’s unclear how far September’s rains will go toward alleviating drought.