The consequences of the floods in Libya are very high. According to Arab television Al Hadath, there is said to be at least one There were 6,000 deaths in Derna alone. Other broadcasters appreciated it up to 10 thousand. The number is unknown miss, The damage to the river passage caused by the floods was extensive Cyclone Daniel, what many have defined as Medication, a term created by merging the words Mediterranean and hurricane (i.e. hurricane). But what is it? Why are they gaining weight? And what caused the catastrophe in Libya? Virgilio NOTEIE has reached Massimiliano Fazzini, Climatologist from the University of Camerino, climate risk coordinator from Sigea, the Italian Society of Environmental Geology, who went to Derna.
The situation in Libya
According to the BBC, on the Italian night between Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th September, i.e miss They would be at least 10 thousand.
Dramatic situation, especially a The NA, Two dams and four bridges collapsed, literally flooding entire areas.
Photo source: ANSAA Still from a Red Crescent video shows relief efforts following the deaths and destruction caused by the floods, particularly in the eastern part of the country
The Death toll Although the number of floods that have hit Libya is updated hourly, the numbers are still contradictory: according to Interior Ministry sources reported by Askanews, they would exceed the floods 5 thousand, but they could even go that far 10 thousand.
The interview with Massimiliano Fazzini
The flooding in Libya is a catastrophic but also exceptional event, especially for the region. What happened from a climatic perspective?
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“It was undoubtedly an extremely important and abundant rainfall. Suffice it to say that they fell in certain areas of Cyrenaica 420mm of rain in 24 hours, compared to an annual average of 350 millimeters. So it is an amount that is normally recorded in a year and that in this case fell in just one day. However, winds blow at speeds of 180 km/h along the coast. All of this, given the available data, suggests that this Mediterranean cyclone has developed into a subtropical cyclone, a so-called Medication, Exactly. It is therefore clear that this is further evidence of the occurrence of tropical storms in the Mediterranean in late summer.”
What are the other special features of Medicane and when can it be defined as such?
“We could define it as a small hurricane, a Mediterranean version. However, to achieve this two elements are required: The winds on the ground must be present at least 120 kilometers per hour; In addition, there is a unique feature of the Mediterranean hurricane: this type of low pressure has a warm heart. This means that the vertical column of air in the center is warmer than the outline of the depression itself. This is typical of tropical storms and medicans, while extratropical depressions usually have a cold heart, meaning that temperatures in the center, in the eye, are lower are than the external ones.”
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Is it true that this type of disorder is increasing? What do the statistical data say?
“A premise needs to be created. The Mediterranean is real Hot spots, a specific area of study. Interactions with other extreme phenomena occurring worldwide are difficult to determine. However, it is important to emphasize that over the past 15 years, the likelihood of Medicane formation in the late summer-fall season has tripled. We used to see one every 4-5 years, but today the frequency is less one every year and a half. Up to five cases have occurred in recent years. This is a bad sign: with disruptions of this kind, the risks for the population increase, as we see in Derna.”
What happened in Derna and how is it possible that the dams failed?
“I am about to leave Tunis for Derna,” confirms Fazzini, who arrived from Emilia Romagna via Sicily. I asked local institutions for support so I could meet colleagues and investigate what happened. It appears that the failure of the dams is due to a so-called Suction the walls on both sides. Practical the water would have dug aroundwhereby the lateral support disappears”.
What are the risks to residents of areas increasingly exposed to “violent” unrest?
“In this case, it is important to note that there were no casualties near the dams. The situation is different for the residents of the areas downstream, where the water and mud masses have found densely populated centers. This must teach and remind us something important: we must not build near rivers, and we should know that in Italy, considering what happened a few months ago in Emilia Romagna. As climate change continues, places may not be risky per se, but They become dangerous if you build near them“.
What is Medicane?
Medicane was also recently mentioned in Italy during violent storms that particularly hit the north Milan and that Lombardy, without sparing some surrounding regions, or more recently due to severe weather threats in Sicily and Calabria.
The scenario was similar: temporal, intensive Gusts of wind And strong hailstorms.
But why was it called Medicane? As Scientific Reports explains: “Medicans have properties similar to tropical cyclones, both when observed on satellite images and taking into account their dynamic and thermodynamic properties.”
What connects hurricanes in the Mediterranean region with hurricanes characteristic of tropical areas such as the area of? Florida, It is the presence of an eye surrounded by a spiral of clouds. However, there is at least one difference: according to the authors of the article, the duration of Medicanes compared to tropical cyclones limited to a few daysdue to the smaller extent of the Mediterranean, their main source of energy.”
In addition, the expansion of Medicane would be irrelevant expressed in kilometers.
Photo source: Facebook – Getty The images of the flooding in Derna in Libya: 10,000 deaths are feared after the fury of Cyclone Daniel