Drone footage shows massive destruction left behind by the devastating floods in eastern Libya
Drone footage documented the destruction of the Libyan city of Derna, which was hardest hit by the collapse of two dams, which Derna’s mayor said may have claimed more than 20,000 lives. (September 14th)
AP
DERNA, Libya (AP) — The death toll in the Libyan coastal city of Derna has risen to 11,300 as search efforts continue after a massive flood caused by two dams breaking during heavy rains, the Libyan Red Crescent said on Thursday with.
Marie el-Drese, the aid group’s secretary general, told The Associated Press by telephone that another 10,100 people were reported missing in the Mediterranean city. Health authorities had previously estimated the death toll in Derna at 5,500. The storm also killed about 170 people elsewhere in the country.
The floods swept away entire families in Derna on Sunday evening, exposing vulnerabilities in the oil-rich country that has been mired in conflict since a 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
UN on flood deaths in Libya: Most deaths could have been avoided
Here’s a look at where things stand: WHAT HAPPENED IN LIBYA?
Daniel, an unusually strong Mediterranean storm, caused deadly flooding in communities in eastern Libya, but Derna was hit worst. As the storm raged across the coast on Sunday evening, residents said they heard loud explosions as two dams collapsed outside the town. Floods poured into Wadi Derna, a valley that cuts through the city, crashing through buildings and washing people into the sea.
A U.N. official said Thursday that most of the casualties could have been avoided.
“If there had been a normally functioning weather service, they could have issued the warnings,” Petteri Taalas, head of the World Meteorological Organization, told reporters in Geneva. “The civil protection authorities could have carried out the evacuation.”
The WMO said earlier this week that the National Meteorological Center had issued warnings 72 hours before the flooding and informed all government agencies by email and through the media.
Officials in eastern Libya warned the public of the impending storm and ordered residents to evacuate coastal areas on Saturday, fearing a tidal wave from the sea. However, there was no warning of the dams collapsing.
How does the conflict in Libya impact the catastrophe?
The frightening devastation reflected the intensity of the storm but also Libya’s vulnerability. Oil-rich Libya has been divided for much of the last decade between rival governments – one in the east, the other in the capital Tripoli – and one consequence has been widespread infrastructure neglect.
The two dams that collapsed outside Derna were built in the 1970s. A 2021 report by a state audit agency said the dams were not maintained despite the allocation of more than 2 million euros for this purpose in 2012 and 2013.
Tripoli-based Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah acknowledged the maintenance problems during a cabinet meeting on Thursday and called on prosecutors to launch an urgent investigation into the collapse of the dams.
The disaster brought a rare moment of unity as government agencies across the country rushed aid to affected areas.
While the Tobruk-based government in eastern Libya is leading the relief effort, the Tripoli-based western government provided the equivalent of $412 million for reconstruction in Derna and other eastern cities, and an armed group in Tripoli sent a convoy carrying humanitarian aid. WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?
Derna has begun burying its dead, mostly in mass graves, eastern Libya’s health minister Othman Abduljaleel said on Thursday.
As of Thursday morning, more than 3,000 bodies had been buried, the minister said, while another 2,000 were still being processed. He said most of the dead were buried in mass graves outside Derna, while others were transferred to nearby towns.
Abduljaleel said rescue teams were still searching destroyed buildings in the city center and divers were combing the sea off Derna.
Countless people could be buried under drifts of mud and debris, including overturned cars and chunks of concrete up to 4 meters (13 feet) high. Rescuers struggled to bring in heavy equipment as floodwaters inundated or blocked roads leading to the area.
Libya’s eastern parliament, the House of Representatives, approved an emergency budget of 10 billion Libyan dinars – about $2 billion – on Thursday to combat the floods and help those affected.
HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE KILLED?
According to the Libyan Red Crescent on Thursday, 11,300 people were killed and another 10,100 are missing.
However, local officials suspected that the death toll could be much higher than announced.
Derna Mayor Abdel-Moneim al-Ghaithi told Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabia television on Thursday that the number could rise to 20,000 given the number of neighborhoods destroyed.
The storm also killed around 170 people in other parts of eastern Libya, including in the towns of Bayda, Susa, Um Razaz and Marj, the health minister said.
The dead in eastern Libya included at least 84 Egyptians, whose remains were returned to their home country on Wednesday. More than 70 came from a village in the southern province of Beni Suef. Libyan media also reported that dozens of Sudanese migrants died in the disaster. Does help reach the survivors?
The floods displaced at least 30,000 people in Derna, according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, and several thousand more were forced to flee their homes in other eastern cities, it said.
The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to Derna and hindered the arrival of international rescue teams and humanitarian aid. Local authorities have been able to clear some routes and humanitarian convoys have been able to enter the city in recent days.
The UN humanitarian office has issued an emergency appeal for $71.4 million to respond to the urgent needs of the 250,000 most affected Libyans. The office, known as OCHA, estimated that about 884,000 people in five provinces live in areas directly affected by rain and flooding.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it had provided 6,000 body bags to local authorities and distributed medicine, food and other supplies to the hardest-hit communities.
Earlier this week, international aid arrived in Benghazi, 250 kilometers west of Derna. Several countries have sent relief and rescue teams, including neighboring Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. Italy dispatched a naval ship carrying humanitarian aid and two naval helicopters for search and rescue operations on Thursday.
President Joe Biden said the United States would send money to aid groups and coordinate with Libyan authorities and the United Nations to provide additional support.
___
Associated Press journalists Samy Magdy in Cairo and Jack Jeffery in London contributed to this report.
___