Climate Change Worsened Rains in Flood-Hit African Regions, Scientists Say
A drone view shows flooded houses in the Danayre district of Yagoua, Cameroon September 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Climate Change Worsened Rains in Flood-Hit African Regions, Scientists Say
A drone view shows flooded houses in the Danayre district of Yagoua, Cameroon September 22, 2024. (Reuters)
Devastating rains that triggered deadly floods in Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan in recent months were worsened by human-caused climate change, a team of international scientists said on Wednesday.
Global warming made the seasonal downpours this year about 5-20% more intense across the Niger and Lake Chad basins, said World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of scientists studying the link between climate change and extreme weather.
It also said such intense rainfall could occur annually if warming continues.
"Spells of heavy summer rainfall have become the new normal in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad," said Izidine Pinto, Researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, in a WWA statement.
This year's floods killed around 1,500 people and displaced over 1 million more in West and Central Africa, according to the UN aid agency OCHA. The rainfall also overwhelmed dams in Nigeria and Sudan.
If global warming reaches 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which could happen as early as the 2050s, such downpours are expected to occur nearly every year in the affected regions, WWA said, calling for more investment in early warning systems and dam upgrades.
"Africa has contributed a tiny amount of carbon emissions globally, but is being hit the hardest by extreme weather," said Joyce Kimutai, researcher at the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial College in London.
She said the onus was on this year's COP29 climate talks in November to ensure rich nations contribute "meaningful finance" to help.
Rare Sahara Floods Bring Morocco’s Dried-up South Back to Lifehttps://english.aawsat.com/varieties/5075299-rare-sahara-floods-bring-morocco%E2%80%99s-dried-south-back-life
Tourists camp on the shores of Erg Znaigui, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)
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Rare Sahara Floods Bring Morocco’s Dried-up South Back to Life
Tourists camp on the shores of Erg Znaigui, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)
In Morocco's southeastern desert, a rare downpour has brought lakes and ponds back to life, with locals -- and tourists -- hailing it as a gift from the heavens.
In Merzouga, an attractive tourist town some 600 kilometers (370 miles) southeast of the capital Rabat, the once-parched golden dunes are now dotted with replenished ponds and lakes.
"We're incredibly happy about the recent rains," said Youssef Ait Chiga, a local tour guide leading a group of German tourists to Yasmina Lake nestled amidst Merzouga's dunes.
Khalid Skandouli, another tour guide, said the rain has drawn even more visitors to the tourist area, now particularly eager to witness this odd transformation.
With him, Laetitia Chevallier, a French tourist and regular visitor to the region, said the rainfall has proved a "blessing from the sky".
"The desert became green again, the animals have food again, and the plants and palm trees came back to life," she said.
Locals told AFP the basin had been barren for nearly 20 years.
A man leads his camels along the shores of Yasmina lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)
Last year was Morocco's driest in 80 years, with a 48 percent drop in rainfall, according to an October report from the General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM).
But in September, torrential rains triggered floods in southern parts of Morocco, killing at least 28 people, according to authorities.
The rare heavy rains come as the North African kingdom grapples with its worst drought in nearly 40 years, threatening its economically crucial agriculture sector.
Neighboring Algeria saw similar rain and flooding in early September, killing six people.
North African countries currently rank among the world's most water-stressed, according to the World Resources Institute, a non-profit research organization.
The kingdom's meteorological agency described the recent massive rainfall as "exceptional".
It attributed it to an unusual shift of the intertropical convergence zone -- the equatorial region where winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet, causing thunderstorms and heavy rainfall.
The sun sets behind the dunes at Yasmina lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)
- 'Climate change' -
"Everything suggests that this is a sign of climate change," Fatima Driouech, a Moroccan climate scientist, told AFP. "But it's too early to say definitively without thorough studies."
Driouech emphasized the importance of further research to attribute this event to broader climate trends.
Experts say climate change is making extreme weather events, such as storms and droughts, more frequent and intense.
In Morocco's south, the rains have helped partially fill some reservoirs and replenish groundwater aquifers.
But for those levels to significantly rise, experts say the rains would need to continue over a longer period of time.
The rest of the country is still grappling with drought, now in its sixth consecutive year, jeopardizing the agricultural sector that employs over a third of Morocco's workforce.
Tourists take pictures at Yasmina lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. (AFP)
Jean Marc Berhocoirigoin, a 68-year-old French tourist, said he was surprised to find Yasmina Lake replenished. "I hadn't seen these views for 15 years," he said.
Water has also returned to other desert areas such as Erg Znaigui, about 40 kilometers south of Merzouga, AFP reporters saw.
While the rains have breathed life into Morocco's arid southeast, Driouech warns that "a single extreme event can't bring lasting change".
But last week, Morocco's meteorological agency said such downpours could become increasingly frequent, "driven partly by climate change as the intertropical convergence zone shifts further north".
