Moroccan cities under water

Severe rains killed dozens of people across Morocco and caused enormous damage to the country's infrastructure.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 01/12/10

Flash floods triggered by torrential rains on Tuesday (November 30th) claimed at least 32 lives in different parts of Morocco, disrupted transportation, cut off electricity in entire districts and submerged a number of houses and vehicles.

After claiming six victims on Monday in Al-Hoceima, the floods washed away a bus with 24 passengers on Tuesday. All aboard were killed as it fell into the Chguig River on the road between Casablanca and Bouznika. A 13-year old child drowned in Khénifra and other people died and were injured when houses collapsed in El Hri and Sale. A girl died while trying to cross a river in Tiflet. A body was found, swept away by floods in Ouarzarte, and another person was reported missing in Mokrisset.

Heavy rains especially affected Casablanca, Morocco's business capital, which in a 24-hour period experienced an amount of precipitation equivalent to half of the average yearly rainfall. A 178-mm deluge forced the wilaya authorities to close schools, blocked roads and paralyzed train services between Rabat and Casablanca, leaving thousands of people who commute between the two cities stranded.

Samira Boulmadani, a bank clerk, is among those who were unable to go to work because of the floods. "I didn't realize how bad things were. They told me at the station. It's a whole day wasted for employers and employees alike. But it's worth pointing out that the electricity has been cut off at our bank branch since Monday, and it was very difficult to serve our customers," she said.

Royal Air Maroc announced on Tuesday that flights from Casablanca's Mohammed V airport were disrupted because the heavy rainfall prevented passengers and staff from reaching the airport.

Mohamed Mbarki had to accompany his wife to the airport but they were caught out by the bad weather. "She was supposed to be flying off to Belgium on a very important business. It came on just the wrong day. All the roads are blocked," he said.

According to MP Hakim Benchemmas, the scale of the damage is due to the lack of any effective government strategy for disaster management.

"What's happened in Casablanca, the beating heart of Morocco, is a total embarrassment. The isolation of the economic capital from the rest of the country should force all actors involved to realize the importance of preventative strategies and the state of the infrastructure which has proved to be very fragile," he said.

Istiqlal MP Mohamed Ansari, however, countered this assumption, saying that it is difficult to overcome the nature, and even developed countries have encountered similar hardships.

Abdellah Talib, public relations chief at water and power management company Lydec, said that the drainage system was unable to cope with the quantity of precipitation, which fell on the economic capital in a record period of time. He asked the public to restrict their travel in order to help his employees perform their work.

Economist Mohamed Jouadri warned that the repercussions of the adverse weather for the Casablancan economy are bound to be serious.

"Most of Morocco's economic activity takes place in this city. A single day's work lost will cost millions of dirhams, not to mention the damage to the infrastructure," he said.

According to Jouadri, over the past three years, floods in Morocco have caused great physical damage. In Tangiers, the industrial area suffered heavy losses last winter while Gharb suffered from significant damage to its agricultural activities, and faces a possible repeat of the same situation this year.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/12/01/feature-03.