Morocco has evacuated more than 50,000 people, nearly half the population of the northwestern city of Ksar el-Kebir, as flooding driven by weeks of heavy rain threatened to inundate the city, state media said on Monday.
“The city has become a ghost town,” local resident Hicham Ajttou told Reuters by phone. “All markets and shops are closed, and most residents have either left voluntarily or been evacuated.”
Authorities set up shelters and temporary camps and barred entry into Ksar el-Kebir as rising water levels in the Loukkos River spread across several neighbourhoods.
Only departures from the city were permitted, while electricity was cut in parts of it and schools were ordered to remain closed until Saturday.
Officials said the floods were partly triggered by water released from the nearby Oued Makhazine dam, which had reached full capacity. Ksar el-Kebir lies about 190 km (120 miles) north of Rabat.
Ajttou said he moved his family to Tangier last week and returned to Ksar el-Kebir to volunteer in relief efforts.
“The question that worries us is what comes next. The dam is full and we don’t know how long this situation will last,” he said.
The army has deployed rescue units, trucks, equipment and medics to support evacuation and rescue operations and buses evacuated people from the city.
State TV Al Oula showed a helicopter rescuing four people trapped by rising waters in Oued Ouargha in the nearby province of Ouezzane.
Further south, rising levels of the Sebou River prompted authorities to evacuate several villagers in Sidi Kacem and reinforce riverbanks with sandbags and barriers.
The heavy rainfall has brought an end to a seven-year drought that pushed Morocco to invest heavily in desalination plants. The national dam-filling rate is now close to 62 per cent, with several major reservoirs reaching full capacity, according to official data.