Morocco: Bloggers Survey Flood Damage

Last week, heavy rains throughout Morocco flooded large swaths of the country, disrupting travel and telecommunications and killing at least 30 people, including 24 who perished when their bus was swept away by a flooding river in Bouznika, south of the capital, Rabat.

Citizen journalists have been surveying the scene and sharing their stories about the heavy rains. On YouTube, hamsemmieb shared a slideshow of images from the floods:

On Twitter, a traveling Hisham_G shared an image from the road, complete with tongue-in-cheek comment:

A road outside El Jadida

“Arrivé à El Jadida. Selon cet employé communal la route derriere moi est maintenant fermée”

“Arrived in El Jadida. According to this municipal employee, the road behind me is now closed.”

Blogger The Last of the Moroccans, an American living in Rabat, describes the rain from an outsider perspective:

and it's true that rain in morocco is different from the rain i've experienced elsewhere, something i usually equate with the close proximity of the ocean. it doesn't matter if you have an umbrella and a rain coat on, you're still going to get soaked. usually it's like a swirling sideways mist, but lately it's turned into more of a swirling sideways monsoon. while i don't buy into the popular moroccan idea that it's cold just because it's raining (it's still 60 degrees here), there is an inescapable dampness. because moroccan houses are generally very open air with mostly tiled surfaces and don't have insulation or heating systems, the dampness seeps in until the only thing you can do is buy another umbrella and try to stay curled up under a blanket with mint tea as much as possible.

The View From Fez noted the following:

King Mohammed VI announced he would pay the funeral expenses of those who died in the crash and cover hospital expenses for the survivors.

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