The city of Taounate in northern Morocco witnessed the collapse of a residential house, as a result of the heavy rainfall that the region experienced during the past days, causing soil erosion and damage to the building foundations.
The accident did not result in any human casualties, while the local authorities rushed to cordon off the site of the collapse and evacuate a number of nearby homes, after serious cracks were detected in their walls, as a preventive measure to avoid similar incidents, according to Arab media.
Video clips that were widely circulated on social media showed the moment the three-story house collapsed, amidst a state of astonishment among the residents.
This accident comes in the context of a wave of heavy rains witnessed in several Moroccan regions, as observers attribute the recurrence of such accidents to the fragility of some buildings, especially in mountainous areas or near valley streams, in addition to the saturation of the soil with large amounts of water.
In light of the continued expected weather disturbances, the authorities continue to take precautionary measures to ensure the safety of citizens, as they announced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from the northwestern regions of the country in anticipation of floods.
This comes in conjunction with the exceptional return of rain since last September, after seven years of severe drought, which contributed to raising the dams’ reserves to more than 61%, or more than 10 billion cubic metres, which is the highest level recorded since 2019, according to official data.
Strong rain causes a 3-storey house to collapse in Morocco
