Rabat – On August 28, rainstorms in several areas of Souss Region (southern Morocco) caused massive flooding with more than 11 people swept away, according to local sources.
In the province of Taroudant (80 kilometers east of Agadir), floods swept away a number of victims. The floods coincided with the finals of a football league organized in the region and the presence of many citizens attending the event.
Moustapha Arraf, of the Moroccan Commission for Human Rights in Taroudant, told Hespress that “the bodies of seven people have been recovered, one remains missing and the rest have been rescued.”
Citizens who witnessed the floods posted several videos on Facebook. One of the videos shows a building, part of the football field, easily flooded. The people who had sought refuge in the building were also swept by the floods.
Locals told Alyaoum24 that activists had alerted the authorities to the dangers of the place where the football field was built. The activists reported that officials did not take the warning into consideration.
The football field was built in a river’s path known to accumulate floods.
A few days before, the National Meteorological Directorate predicted heavy rainstorms on August 28 and 29 in a number of southern provinces.
The Directorate announced that the rainstorms will affect the provinces of El Haouz, Azilal, Ouarzazate, Taroudant, Chichaoua, Marrakech, Rhamnah, Beni Mellal, Qalaat Sraghna, and Midelt.
