Morocco flood evacuees still shaken, waiting to return home

by AFP Staff Writers
Kenitra, Morocco (AFP) Feb 8, 2026
It was through a call from her local mosque's loudspeakers that Kasia El Selami learnt it was time to flee as floodwaters rose in her Moroccan village of Ouled Ameur.

Selami is among more than 150,000 people to have been evacuated over the past week as heavy rainfall battered provinces in Morocco's north.

"We felt immense fear... especially for our children", said the 67-year-old while hanging a blanket by the tent in which she now lives.

The floods have killed four people so far, including a two-year-old child, with one person still missing as of Sunday, Moroccan authorities said.

Some residents, including children and elderly people, were seen stranded on rooftops before being rescued, at times with small boats.

Others were rescued by helicopter as floodwaters inundated roads and farmland in several areas.

Near Kenitra, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Rabat, authorities have set up a vast camp of small blue tents sheltering nearly 40,000 people, including Selami and her children.

At the camp, evacuees make do with little while waiting to be able to return home.

One woman scrubbed laundry in a small basin just a few metres away from an enclosure where evacuated cows, horses, chickens and sheep were penned.

Nearby, sick or lightly injured men and women queued outside a mobile clinic.

- 'Terrified' -

Despite the relative quiet, Ali Al Aouni said these were "very difficult days".

The 60-year-old complained about the cold and anxiety, adding that his children were still "terrified" after what had happened.

"The water level got about a metre and a half high" in his village, he recalled. "We're afraid to go home if the flood comes back."

Aouni said his eldest son stayed behind to watch over their property, updating him over the phone that the water kept rising.

Not far away, the civil defence was handing out mattresses, warm clothing and food to the rescued families.

These came "in addition to health care and veterinary check-ups for livestock", Adil Al-Khatabi, an official, told AFP.

Selami is already thinking about going home.

"We're waiting for this ordeal to end as soon as possible, so we can return to our homes", she said.

Last December 37 people were killed in sudden floods in Safi, in Morocco's deadliest weather-related disaster in the past decade.

In recent weeks, severe weather and flooding in neighbouring Algeria killed two people, including a child.

In Tunisia, at least five people died, while others were still missing after the country experienced its heaviest rainfall in over 70 years last month.

And further north, Portugal and Spain have also endured storms and torrential rains in recent days.

Torrential rain in Colombia leaves 13 dead
Bogot� (AFP) Feb 8, 2026 - Thirteen people died this week in Colombia in torrential rain that is rare for this time of year, officials said Sunday.

A cold front rushing in from the north of the Americas to the Caribbean coast of Colombia increased rainfall last month by 64 percent compared to the historical average, the national weather agency Ideam said.

Among the fatalities this week, a landslide in southwest Narino department killed seven people Friday night as a rain-swollen stream overflowed and houses were buried in mud, Narino department authorities said.

They broadcast footage of earth-moving equipment digging away at the muck as rescue teams and sniffer dogs looked for bodies.

The violent weather had already left six dead around the country, the disaster management agency UNGRD said Thursday.

Climate change is wreaking havoc with the dry and wet periods in Colombia, which has a tropical climate and no distinct seasons.