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A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara Desert, nourishing some of its most drought-stricken regions with more water than many had seen in decades.

Southeastern Morocco’s desert is among the most arid places in the world and rarely experiences rain in late summer.

The Moroccan government said two days of rainfall in September had exceeded yearly averages in several areas that get an average of less than 250 millimetres (10 inches) annually, including Tata, one of the areas hit hardest. In Tagounite, a village about 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of the capital Rabat, more than 100mm (3.9 inches) was recorded in a 24-hour period.

The storms left striking images of bountiful water gushing through the Saharan sands amid castles and desert flora.

“It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short space of time,” said Houssine Youabeb of Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology.

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