Flash Flood in Abaynou, Guelmim, Morocco

Zagan the motorhome’s still in Camping de la Vallée near Abaynou (N29.11414, W10.019896), and is likely to be for a while! Three sections of the mud-and-stone piste road here, the only way in and out, were washed away by a flash flood last night. Phil and Jules, up at Tafraoute, are also looking at an entrance road which has been turned into a river, and have met some British folks up there who were stuck at Camping de la Vallée for three weeks after a similar event. We’re safe, no-one’s been hurt, the weather forecast is for days of baking sun and we have a massive food stash in here. Yep, after years of berating Ju for having too much food in the van, I’m now eating humble pie!

The road out of Camping de La Vallee – no longer passable…

Last night I had a climb up the hillside to the eastern side of the valley, to get a look at the campsite from above. Scrabbling about on the loose rocky surface, aware of the fact a slip could result in a yowl and a cactus-stuck backside, I was trying to make it up and back in a break in the rain. It had steadily rained all day, nothing dramatic, but enough to have me pondering the wisdom of taking an umbrella up an exposed hillside.

Abaynou to the south of us at the entrance to the valley. We can’t currently get there.

Camping de la Vallee from above

Last night Peter and Elaine came round for a chat and I ate my bodyweight in salted nuts, again, as we set the world to rights. During the night the rain seriously hammered down, waking us up but I didn’t think much of it. This morning, still under steady rain, we had a lie in. I finally made my way up to the showers about 9:30am, wondering about the low water pressure today, and when I walked back to the van I noticed a collection of folks at the gate, looking out at this scene.

We didn’t know it, but during the night a flash flood had stoked the river up to the point it chewed through the road at the campsite entrance. Later on we found it had cut through the piste in two other places, creating gaps in the road about ten metres wide and a meter or so deep. The van caught in the flood belongs to an elderly French couple who’d attempted to drive through the flood waters at about 6am, but clearly not making it. With the water a metre up one side of the van, they had to be rescued with a rope.

The road back to Abaynou

No-one’s hurt, so we’re in good spirits in here. Peter and Elaine are even more chilled about the whole thing than we are

While the concerned French (and English) speaking site manager made calls on his phone, the owner of the French van tried to shift about heavy rocks to prep if for being pulled out, refusing all offers off help, and unaware of the fact no tow truck can get here. After a while he gave up, the river receded and we headed out for a walk to look at the damage to the piste.

At one point Charlie found the carcass of some unfortunate (and long dead) animal, and attempted to eat it in one piece. He then fell over, and looked to be having a fit, then went limp and stopped breathing. In a panic I grabbed him and Ju realised he was choking. She’s bloody good – she simply picked him up, and held him upside down and shook him until all the offending meat and bone fell out of his mouth. At this point life returned to the little *!&!*!*!*, and he started trotting about like nothing had happened. GOOOODDDAAAMMMMIIITTTT!!! We’ve just about recovered a few hours later. It’s a good job we’ve still got a wine stash in here (thanks again to Ju).

Back at base attempts were underway to try and get the van out. A couple of Moroccan chaps were directing things, which resulted in not much progress and much shouting at each other. “No Abdul, you idiot, we must stick huge rocks here!” “What? No!” Mohammed uses his foot to scrabble at the smaller stones in the river bed. “The tyres need small stones to grab hold of, you fool!” And so on, having us lot rocking the van back and forth while the tyres spun and it failed to move anywhere. None of the quad bikes, which sat about on the site and might have stood a chance at pulling the van free, were to be seen.

In the end, a combination of complete Moroccan inability to give up, a bunch of Europeans pulling and pushing on the stricken vehicle, and the fact women got involved and point out maybe we should pull and push it, rather than rock it, got it free. I was convinced it would never be shifted; once again I eat humble pie. A quad bike has since appeared, and a collection of folks are helping clean the van up. It seems to have fared well externally although a crab was retrieved from an external locker, which had been flooded. It seems likely to have suffered internally, but it’ll drive back to France and the owners seemed fatalistic about the whole thing. Being 70-odd, I guess they’ve seen worse.

Pull!

Incredibly we got the thing free – oddly at the point the ladies decided to lend a hand (and a brain)

So, that’s it. The ground’s gone soft on the site, and we’ve sunk a bit but nothing major. The soak away next to the loos has been badly damaged, so poop is now flowing out into it via an arc of air. The mains electricity and water have both stayed on, so we’re quite comfortable. Just a waiting game now to see how long the damage to the road takes to be repaired. I suspect the locals get this same problem every winter. As we’ve no idea what other damage has been done to the wider area around us, we’ve no idea where we might be on the priority list. Insh’Allah, they’ll fix the road some time…

Sewage flowing via an air-channel into the soak away

The local wildlife’s unperturbed

Cheers, Jay