Dramatic drone footage shared Sunday by The Associated Press (AP) shows the Sahara Desert flooded after it reportedly received a year’s worth of rainfall in two days.
The video shows blue lagoons swamping palm trees and sand dunes. Some of the affected areas of the world’s largest hot desert lie in southeastern Morocco and generally receive less than 10 inches of rainfall yearly, the outlet reported.
These areas received two days of rainfall in September that surpassed the average annually, the AP reported. Tata, Tagounite and Merzouga are three of the affected desert communities in Morocco’s southeast. Tata was one of the most impacted areas. Tagounite saw over 3.9 inches of rain in 24 hours.
A rare, extratropical cyclone that swept across the northwestern Sahara on Sep. 7 and 8 was responsible for the flooding and the revivification of the Saharan lakes, according to NASA. It also left several Moroccan villages reeling from significant flash floods, washed-out roads and interruption in electricity and water supplies, NASA reported. Large areas of Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya were also drenched. (RELATED: Massive Storm In Sahara Desert Covers Countries Thousands Of Miles Away With Dust)
Some areas in Morocco hit by a devastating Sep. 8, 2023 earthquake also needed post-flood government relief. Over 20 people died from the floods in Morocco and Algeria, the AP reported.
“It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short space of time. It has to be said that even for the geography of the region, since we’re on the eastern slopes of the Atlas mountains, we’ve noticed that it’s as if all the rains are directed towards the same areas,” Houssine Youabeb from Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology told the AP.
The storms punctuated six consecutive years of drought in a row that had forced farmers to leave fields fallow and neighborhoods to ration water, the AP reported.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) published satellite imagery showing the same phenomenon in various Saharan lakes as well in September. One such lake is the famous Lake Iriqui (also spelt Iriki), situated between Tata and Zagora, according to the AP. It became filled with floodwaters that ended its 50-year dry spell.
The air in the affected areas will retain moisture, perhaps triggering further evaporation that will precipitate as thunderstorms rather than organized rainfall and potentially change the region’s weather for months and years ahead, Youabeb told the AP.
The lakes and puddles reportedly attracted stunned tourists and locals.
The surplus rainfall also refilled dammed reservoirs and could replenish the large groundwater aquifers on which desert communities depend, but it is unclear how far it will ease the drought.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
