Rare Flooding Brings Life to Moroccan Town on Edge of the Sahara

TaiwanPlus News

After years of drought, rare floods have brought wildlife and tourists to a Moroccan town on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Meteorologists say it’s part of a cycle of extreme weather likely to intensify as the effects of climate change worsen.

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00:00In one of the world's driest regions, a blessing from the sky.

00:07That's what tourists and locals here are calling the once-in-a-generation rainfall in Merzouga,

00:12a small village on the edge of the Sahara Desert in Morocco.

00:30Frequent travelers to this village say they haven't seen landscapes like these in decades,

00:41as Morocco continues to grapple with a severe drought.

00:45The last time I saw water in Yasmina Lake was 20 years ago, I think, 19 or 20 years ago.

00:52And all these last years have been catastrophic.

00:55We even wondered where we were going, so much water was missing.

00:59But heavy rain hitting the region this fall is bringing new wildlife and an influx of tourists.

01:06It's been a long time since I've been to this place.

01:11And now I feel like I need to be here.

01:15Tourists come here a lot, and they help us.

01:20They give us food and water, thank God.

01:25Tourists come here to stay overnight.

01:30They come to visit and see what's going on.

01:35But the rejuvenation has come at a steep cost.

01:38The floods have killed at least 28 people in Morocco and six in neighboring Algeria.

01:44Scientists say both the floods and the droughts are caused by climate change,

01:49which is making extreme weather events even more intense.

01:53Water becomes increasingly unpredictable, leading to sudden floods, severe droughts.

02:00And climate change is one of the causes of these extreme behaviors.

02:05But as the rest of the country still struggles with drought

02:08in what has been the driest year in over a century,

02:11those in Merzouga are making the most of the water,

02:14with no certainty over how long it will last.

02:18Alex Chen and Sonia Schlesinger for Taiwan Plus.

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