-Oppidum Novum, a Roman city that gave way to another city called Ksar El Kébir, built on the ruins of the Roman city, has for centuries been the victim of recurring floods from the Loukkos River.
-This city (Ksar El Kébir) has always been prone to flooding; in fact, archives and palaeohydrological analyses reveal at least 24 major floods between 1500 and 1871, and 12 periods of flooding between 1936 and 1951.
-After the kingdom's independence in 1956, the recurring floods finally prompted the Moroccan government to build the Oued Makhazine Dam, a few kilometers from the city, with a capacity of 600 million cubic meters.
-Recently, during the heavy rains that lasted almost two months (November 12 to January 10), 3.8 billion cubic meters of water were released into the sea. Since September 1, 2025, dams have accumulated 12.17 billion cubic meters.
-These floods in northern Morocco submerged more than 110,000 hectares of farmland and prompted Moroccan authorities to evacuate more than 180,000 people from the flooded areas. This was a successful logistical operation by those in charge, with minimal damage.
-Regarding financial aid, more than $300 million has been distributed to those affected; 775 million dirhams ($84 million) for relocation and rehabilitation; and 225 million dirhams ($24.4 million) for direct aids and strengthening emergency response efforts. For farmers and livestock breeders, 300 million dirhams ($32.5 million); for infrastructure rehabilitation, 1.7 billion dirhams ($184.3 million).
- It should be noted that Morocco has a network of more than 154 large dams with a total storage capacity of over 20 billion cubic meters.
- With a national filling rate of over 70%, a record since 2015, the Al Wahda Dam (whose reserves rose from 1,482 to 3,204 million cubic meters in three months, reaching the point of overflows) is the largest, followed by Al Massira and Oued El Makhazine.
- The Oued El Makhazine Dam is at the heart of the latest overflow operations after reaching a record filling level of 160%.
