Dozens killed in Morocco flash floods

  Morocco’s Atlantic port city of Safi was plunged into tragedy on Sunday, December 14, 2025, when torrential rains triggered flash floods that killed at least 37 people and left many injured. Local reports said access to and from Safi was blocked on certain roads due to damage and debris, and videos showed cars stranded […]

Morocco’s Atlantic port city of Safi was plunged into tragedy on Sunday, December 14, 2025, when torrential rains triggered flash floods that killed at least 37 people and left many injured.
Local reports said access to and from Safi was blocked on certain roads due to damage and debris, and videos showed cars stranded and partially submerged as floodwaters surged through streets.
Safi, a city of over 300,000 people located roughly 330km south of Rabat, is a major hub for Morocco’s fishing and mining industries and home to a phosphate processing plant.
In barely an hour, muddy water swept through the historic old city, inundating homes and businesses, overturning vehicles, and cutting off key roads in and out of the urban centre.
By nightfall, the waters had receded, revealing a landscape of mud, debris, and damaged infrastructure as residents began to salvage what they could.
State-owned broadcaster SNRT News quoted local authorities as saying 14 people were receiving treatment at Mohammed V Hospital in Safi, including two in intensive care.
Officials said search and rescue operations were ongoing and that necessary measures had been taken to secure affected areas and provide support to residents.
Images shared on social media showed torrents of brown water surging through narrow streets, cars swept aside, and rubbish bins tumbling as the deluge overwhelmed drainage systems.
Authorities reported that at least 70 homes and businesses in the old city were flooded after just one hour of heavy rain. The provincial directorate of national education suspended classes across Safi for three days, while damage to roads cut off traffic along several routes to and from the port city.
Local media highlighted provincial road 2300, which links Safi to Hrara, as particularly affected, compounding the difficulty of relief operations and movement of goods and people in the region.
For many residents, the loss was devastating and personal. “I’ve lost all my clothes. Only my neighbour gave me some to cover myself. I have nothing left. I’ve lost everything,” one victim told Agence France-Presse (AFP), asking not to be named.
Shopkeepers described the retail economy as “devastated,” with jewellery and clothing stores losing entire stock. “Jewellery store owners have lost all their stock … and the same goes for clothing store owners,” said 55-year-old retailer Abdelkader Mezraoui, calling for official compensation to help businesses recover.
Rescuers and Civil Protection units worked late into the evening to clear debris and search for other possible casualties.
Authorities urged residents to remain vigilant as weather conditions continue to threaten vulnerable areas, and Morocco’s weather service forecast more heavy rain on Tuesday, along with snowfall across the Atlas Mountains.

Climate change
The Safi floods are the deadliest severe weather disaster in Morocco in at least a decade and arrive amid a bigger pattern of climate stress.
Morocco has endured seven consecutive years of drought, depleting reservoirs and parching farmland.
The General Directorate of Meteorology said 2024 was the hottest year on record, conditions that scientists say can intensify storms because warmer air holds more moisture and warmer seas can strengthen weather systems.
The country has recent experience of extreme events: heavy rain in 2021 killed 24 people in an illegal underground textile workshop in Tangier, while torrential rains in 2014 and 2015 caused widespread flooding.
Historically, flash floods have killed hundreds in 1995 and scores in 2002.
Sunday’s disaster also followed a separate tragedy in Fes just days earlier, when two buildings collapsed, killing 19 people and injuring 16.