Each autumn, the streets of Tunis become a mirror reflecting what years of deferred maintenance and fractured governance look like when the sky opens. On a Thursday afternoon in September 2026, heavy rain once again submerged the capital's roads, stranded thousands, silenced the power grid, and sent parents wading through floodwaters with children on their shoulders — a scene nearly identical to one that played out just months before in January. The warnings had come from meteorologists; what did not come was preparation. In a city of nearly three million people, the recurring flood is no long
Tunisia's capital paralyzed by floods as drainage failures compound seasonal crisis
Multiple residents were stranded for hours; cars filled with water; people carried children on shoulders to escape flooding; power and internet services disrupted affecting millions.
The state has no vision. It is caught off-guard just like citizens are.
Mark
So this is the second major flood in Tunis in less than a year. What's actually broken here—is it the drainage system itself, or is it something else?
Mimi
Both, it seems. The drains exist but they're overwhelmed when heavy rain comes, and residents say they're clogged with waste. But the bigger issue is that the city doesn't seem to be maintaining them or preparing before the rainy season.
Luke
Wait—the government said in August they were accelerating 29 flood-protection projects. Do we know what those are, or how far along they are? Because "projects underway" can mean anything.
Mimi
That's a fair point. The reporting doesn't specify what those projects are or their timeline. We know the government acknowledged the problem, but we don't know if those projects are actually addressing the drainage issue or something else.
Mark
And the warning system—the meteorology institute did issue warnings. So why did schools wait until the last minute to close?
Mimi
That's what makes it frustrating for people. The warning was there. The decision to close schools came only shortly before it took effect, which sent parents scrambling into traffic.
Luke
But we should be careful here. We don't know if there was a specific threshold the schools were waiting for, or if they made a judgment call that turned out to be wrong. The reporting shows the outcome was chaotic, but not necessarily why the decision was made that way.
Mark
Fair. What about the broader pattern—is this climate change, or is it infrastructure that was never adequate to begin with?
Mimi
The source doesn't address climate change directly. What we know is that Tunis has faced repeated flooding in recent years, and residents are saying the infrastructure isn't being maintained properly.
Luke
And that's important to note. We're seeing a pattern of flooding, but we don't have data on whether rainfall intensity is increasing or whether the city's drainage capacity has actually declined. Both could be true, or it could be one or the other.
Mark
So what's the real consequence here, beyond the immediate disruption?
Mimi
People are buying cars because public transport is unreliable and flooding makes it impossible to rely on buses. That's reshaping the city itself—more cars, more congestion, probably more emissions. It's a feedback loop.
Luke
And that's a real consequence we can see. The flooding is driving a behavioral change that has its own costs.
Le Pouls
- By 4 p.m. Thursday, major arteries into Tunis had become impassable rivers, trapping hundreds of motorists for hours as buses failed to arrive and tunnels closed entirely.
- Power and internet vanished across the capital, schools shuttered with little warning, and parents rushed into gridlocked traffic to retrieve their children — compounding the chaos the rain had already set in motion.
- Residents point to a summer of missed preparation: drainage networks left uncleaned, waterways unmaintained, and flood defenses unstrengthened despite an August government meeting that promised accelerated action.
- The government cites 29 flood-protection projects underway nationwide, but September's flooding arrived on the same streets that January's flooding had already claimed, and trust in official timelines is thin.
- Repeated disruptions are quietly restructuring daily life — residents increasingly conclude that owning a private car is no longer a luxury but a survival strategy in a city where public transport collapses under every storm.
- Flooding is forecast to continue through Saturday, the same day a national march is planned in Tunis — the city bracing simultaneously for rain and for dissent.
Each autumn, the streets of Tunis become a mirror reflecting what years of deferred maintenance and fractured governance look like when the sky opens. On a Thursday afternoon in September 2026, heavy rain once again submerged the capital's roads, stranded thousands, silenced the power grid, and sent parents wading through floodwaters with children on their shoulders — a scene nearly identical to one that played out just months before in January. The warnings had come from meteorologists; what did not come was preparation. In a city of nearly three million people, the recurring flood is no longer a natural disaster so much as a institutional one, a crisis authored slowly by neglect and inherited by those least able to escape it.
On a Thursday afternoon in September, heavy rain brought Greater Tunis — home to nearly three million people — to a standstill. Roads flooded, power disappeared, schools closed with little warning, and thousands found themselves stranded. Fatma, a 35-year-old worker in the capital, watched the familiar scene unfold: three cars swallowed by rising water, parents hoisting children onto their shoulders to wade through the streets, buses that never came. "Every season, the same thing happens," she said.
The National Institute of Meteorology had issued advance warnings — heavy thunderstorms, overwhelmed drainage networks, likely power cuts. The forecasts were accurate. What failed was the response. School closures were announced only as the rain intensified, sending parents into traffic already paralyzed by flooding.
This was not Tunis's first reckoning of the year. Severe floods in January had killed people and caused widespread damage. In August, the government convened a meeting acknowledging the crisis and pledged to accelerate 29 flood-protection projects across the country. Yet the same streets flooded again in September.
Intissar, 33, who lives in the Lafayette neighborhood, said the city has come to treat these disasters as routine. She blamed local authorities for skipping the preventive summer work — cleaning drainage channels, maintaining waterways — but also acknowledged that residents contribute by dumping waste that clogs the very systems meant to protect them. The failure is shared, if not equally.
The recurring disruptions are reshaping how people make decisions. Fatma noted that unreliable public transport and seasonal flooding together are pushing residents toward car ownership as the only reliable option. "The problem makes people look for their own solutions," she said. The floods arrived just as students returned for the new academic term, adding further strain to roads and buses already at their limits.
For Fatma, the pattern points to something beyond infrastructure. "This shows that the state has no vision," she said. "It is caught off-guard just like citizens are." Flooding is forecast to continue through Saturday — the same day a national march is planned in Tunis calling for the release of four detained activists, scheduled for 5 p.m., rain forecast and all.
On Thursday afternoon, heavy rain turned the streets of Tunis into obstacles that trapped thousands of people in their cars, cut power to homes across the capital, and forced schools to close with barely any warning. The Greater Tunis region, home to nearly three million people, ground to a halt as water rose on roads and in homes, with residents reporting that electricity and internet services simply vanished. This was not an isolated event. Only months earlier, in January, severe rains had killed people and caused widespread damage across the capital and beyond. Yet the pattern repeats.
Fatma, a 35-year-old who works in Tunis, was caught in the chaos. Around 4 p.m., she said, the road she knew became unrecognizable. The tunnel leading to Bab Saadoun closed entirely. Hundreds of people stood stranded on the roadside for hours waiting for buses that never arrived. She watched three cars fill with water and stall. She saw parents lifting their children onto their shoulders to wade through the rising water. "Every season, the same thing happens," she told Al Jazeera. "Roads close and traffic comes to a complete standstill. All the drains start overflowing with waste."
The National Institute of Meteorology had issued warnings in advance. They predicted locally heavy thunderstorms, intense rain over short periods, and the likelihood that drainage networks would be overwhelmed. They warned of power cuts. The warnings were there. What was missing was preparation. Schools announced closures only shortly before the rain intensified, sending parents rushing into traffic to collect their children.
Intissar, 33, who lives in the Lafayette area, said the city has simply accepted these disasters as routine. "Every year, we end up flooded even when there is little rain," she said. She blamed local authorities for not doing the preventive work that should have happened during summer—cleaning drainage networks, maintaining waterways, strengthening flood defenses. But she also named another problem: residents themselves dump waste that clogs the channels meant to carry water away. The responsibility is shared, though unevenly.
In August, the government held a meeting acknowledging the crisis. Officials called for drainage networks and waterways to be cleaned and for flood-protection work to be accelerated. They said 29 flood-protection projects were underway across the country. Yet here, in September, the same streets flooded again.
The repeated disruptions are reshaping how people live. Fatma pointed out that the combination of unreliable public transport and recurring floods is pushing residents toward a single solution: buying a car. "The problem makes people look for their own solutions," she said. "That is why most people are trying to find a way to buy a car, because it has become difficult to live without one with these recurring problems." The flooding arrived as students returned to schools and universities for the new term, adding more pressure to roads and buses already overwhelmed.
For Fatma, the pattern reveals something deeper about the state's capacity to respond. "This shows that the state has no vision," she said. "It is caught off-guard just like citizens are." The flooding is scheduled to continue through Saturday, the same day organizers plan a national march in Tunis calling for the release of four detained activists. The march is set for 5 p.m., rain forecast and all.
Citations marquantes
Every season, the same thing happens. Roads close and traffic comes to a complete standstill. All the drains start overflowing with waste.— Fatma, 35, a Tunis resident
This work should have been done during the summer.— Intissar, 33, resident of Lafayette area, on preventive drainage maintenance
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Climate & Environment