In southeastern Morocco, villagers are still recovering the bodies of loved ones more than a week after devastating floods swept through the desert region.
On Monday, 30 September, local authorities retrieved a man's body from "Oued Tata," where a bus carrying twenty-nine villagers was engulfed by floodwaters on 21 September.
"The search is ongoing for two other individuals who remain missing", says local activist Mohamad El-Hilali.
Since the first week of September, floods have inundated dozens of villages in southeastern Morocco, resulting in at least 19 deaths, including three foreign tourists. The hardest-hit area was Tata–a stunning oasis region that is still rural and underdeveloped.
"We have never witnessed anything like this", Aberahman, a local displaced by the floods that damaged his home, notes.
At least fifty-six houses collapsed due to a mud avalanche, and many others are barely standing, with worsening cracks in their walls.
In the surrounding oasis, most palm trees were uprooted, and crops, wells, springs, and roads were damaged.
Among the wreckage, women and children are trying to recover belongings left behind in haste when their homes were flooded on the night of 21 September.
"We have nothing except the clothes we were wearing", says Khadija, a 58-year-old flood survivor. "We call on the King to send us help. We are also Moroccans."
A pervasive sense of neglect hangs over the locals as aid slows, and the government has yet to announce a rescue plan.
Over the weekend, Latifa El Yaakoubi, head of the National Agency for the Development of Oasis Areas, conducted a field visit to the Tata region to assess the damage, under royal orders.
The state agency, which promised a $2 million aid package, has not yet provided official total figures on the damage to homes, crops, and wells.
Three hundred members of local NGOs and opposition parties have signed the "Tata call," a statement urging the government to declare Tata a "disaster area" – to launch a national relief campaign to meet the basic needs of affected residents.
The "Tata Call" statement criticised the government's slow response and called for including local activists in developing a crisis plan to salvage what remains.
Why Are Morocco's deserts experiencing floods?
The intensity of the recent rainfall has shocked a population accustomed to six years of drought. In just 12 hours, some areas received over 50 millimetres of rain—an amount that hasn't fallen since 2014.
Some locals view this as a "grace from God," reflecting cultural beliefs in the Maghreb that rain symbolises fortune.
However, others blame the floods on Rabat's controversial cloud seeding program. The theory of linking this technology to flooding gained traction after similar floods in Dubai in April, where the UAE has also been using cloud seeding to address water shortages.
Since 2023, Morocco has allocated nearly $10 million to enhance rainfall in targeted areas by up to 15% through 20 cloud seeding projects. This involves manipulating existing clouds by releasing small particles (like silver iodide) to encourage rain.
While some have linked this technology to the flooding, experts suggest it can only have a minor impact, calling the focus on cloud seeding "misleading."
Moreover, Morocco's neighbours, Tunisia and Algeria, which do not use this technology, also faced extreme flooding in September despite suffering from prolonged droughts.
Both countries experienced fatalities from floods in September, with two killed in Algeria and several injured in Tunisia.
At the heart of this climatic upheaval is the clash of two opposing air masses, compounded by the long-term effects of drought and poor infrastructure, according to the Moroccan climate platform Nechfate.
An extratropical cyclone in September brought intense rainfall, driven by warm, humid air from the south meeting cold air from the north, forming unstable clouds.
"These downpours create sudden floods that rush through dry riverbeds. Because the dry ground struggles to absorb water, flash floods are often worse in desert areas than in wetter regions", explained the local group to The New Arab.
Rapid urban growth and inadequate infrastructure have led to buildings being constructed near waterways, making the ground less capable of absorbing water.
Nechfate argues that a shift from short-term solutions to proactive drought policies would enhance the resilience of Maghreb states against climate change challenges.
"Think of drought management as a catalyst for broader climate adaptation—especially in southern Morocco," they suggest.
By fostering a learning exchange where local and global experts share best practices—ranging from recycled wastewater to innovative irrigation techniques—they believe "we can collectively craft a future where every drop counts."