An aerial view shows the destruction, in the aftermath of the floods in Derna, Libya September 16. The state knew of this well, whether through experts in the Public Water Commission or the foreign companies that came to assess the dam," he said. In his report, hydrologist Ashour cites an unpublished 2006 study from the Water Resources Ministry on "the danger of the situation." The Turkish company, Arsel, lists a project on its website to repair the Derna dams as having begun in 2007 and been completed in 2012. Even as the catastrophe was unfolding on Sunday night, the Water Resources Ministry issued a post on its Facebook page telling residents not to worry.

The BBC and the rest of Britain’s establishment media have been firing out these terms like bullets from a machine gun. But what the BBC and the rest of the Western media have carefully avoided mentioning is why. Slave marketsThe self-congratulatory mood among Britain’s political and media class, burnishing the West’s “humanitarian” credentials, was evident across the media. As Declassified reported, after biding their time British oil giants BP and Shell returned to Libya’s oilfields last year. But with the help of Western media like the BBC, the reasons for their misery remain as murky as the flood waters.

People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. Search teams are combing streets, wrecked buildings, and even the sea to look for bodies in Derna, where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed thousands of people. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.

Storm Daniel was Greece's worst storm in recorded history but for Libya it would trigger a disaster of unimaginable scale. Facebook Facebook , which may be using cookies and other technologies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Facebook cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Facebook cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Facebook cookies for this session only.

"Bodies are littering the streets, washing back on shore and are buried under collapsed buildings and debris. Mohammad al-Qabisi, head of Derna's Wahda Hospital, said a field hospital was treating people with chronic illnesses needing regular attention. "There are still bodies underground ... Now there are corpses starting to smell." The ICRC sent a cargo flight to Benghazi, eastern Libya's largest city, on Friday with 5,000 body bags. "I've heard from my team that there are mass graves where rescue workers were appealing: 'Don't bring us food, don’t bring us water, bring us body bags'," the NRC's Ahmed Bayram said.

It had been clear for years that the dams protecting Derna, on Libya’s Mediterranean coast, were in danger of giving way. Torrential rains were not new. Decade after decade, they had pounded the area, washing away the soil that helped soak up water as it ran down from the dry hills above town. Climate change had also changed the land, making it drier, harder and increasingly shorn of vegetation, less able to absorb the water before it pooled up dangerously behind the dams. Then, there were the decades of neglect by officials — who knew the dams needed repairs — in a country so torn by years of civil war that it still has two opposing governments: one in the west and another in the east, where Derna lies.

Libyan authorities said an investigation into the collapse of two dams on Sunday has begun after flooding brought about by heavy rain killed more than 11,000 people. The UN has launched an appeal for US$71 million to assist the hundreds of thousands in need in Libya. The UK on Saturday announced it was ramping up support for Libya including more money and an emergency medical team. The team, led by health and sanitation experts from NGO UK-Med, will conduct rapid medical assessments in disaster-affected areas. The unit will coordinate with local authorities, international organisations and other partners on the ground.

DERNA, Libya — Locals now call Wadi Derna “the dam of death.”In a moment’s notice, the structure unleashed tens of millions of cubic meters of floodwater on Derna’s residents. The torrents swept generational homes and entire families into the Mediterranean sea — leaving onlooking survivors in a state of shock and horror. A road that connected the valley is now shredded — the two sides of asphalt reaching over the edge to each other. “We will never forget what happened here,” says Safwat Ashraf, a 24-year-old teacher. Safwat says he heard women and children screaming who had sought shelter in the school.

STORY: This is a mass grave on the outskirts of the devastated Libyan city of Derna. Residents and rescue workers are struggling to cope with the thousands of corpses washing up or decaying under rubble.......after the city was obliterated when the dams above the city broke. The flood swept down a usually dry riverbed. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which has a team of 100 in Libya, said dead body management was the most pressing concern. The International Organization for Migration mission in Libya said more than 5,000 were presumed dead and tens of thousands were displaced.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, says that 42 Syrians have been confirmed dead in Libya while the real number could be as high as 150. As the storm pounded Derna late Sunday, residents said they heard loud explosions when the dams outside the city collapsed. Still, for some Syrians, Libya offered prospects of a better life. Syrians can easily get into Libya on a tourist visa and find work — wages are higher than what many earn at home. Firas Qalaji, 45, his wife Rana Khateeb and their six children were to be buried in Libya, the family said in a statement.

DERNA : Libyan authorities have opened an investigation into the collapse of two dams that caused a devastating flood in a coastal city as rescue teams searched for bodies on Saturday, nearly a week after the deluge killed more than 11,000 people.Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekend.The floods overwhelmed two dams, sending a wall of water several metres (yards) high through the centre of Derna, destroying entire neighbourhoods and sweeping people out to sea.More than 10,000 are missing, according to the Libyan Red Crescent. Six days on, searchers are still digging through mud and hollowed-out buildings, looking for bodies and possible survivors. “I found the kid in the water next to his grandfather,” said Ayoub, who only gave his first name. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in the region and took shelter in schools and other government buildings.Dozens of foreigners were among those killed, including people who had fled war and unrest elsewhere in the region.Others had come to Libya to work or were travelling through in hopes of migrating to Europe. At least 74 men from one village in Egypt perished in the flood, as well as dozens of people who had travelled to Libya from war-torn Syria.

Where the river ran down to the sea, there are just banks of earth and mud. People are talking about this torrent of water having the force of an atomic bomb. Things like tents, medical care and clean water need to be brought into the country. And then even when you manage to get that aid into Benghazi, it is a 6-7 hour drive to Derna. But the normal large-scale, well-rehearsed humanitarian operation from the international community that you would normally see a week after a disaster like this is not in place.

CAIRO – 16 September 2023: Pre-university Egyptian students returning from Libya due to the devastating storm and flooding are exempted from paying tuition fees of the new 2023/2024 academic year, announced Reda Hegazy, the Minister of Education and Technical Education, in a statement on Saturday. The Ministry extended sincere condolences to the families of the Egyptian victims who died as a result of floods that struck the Libyan state. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said that the Libyan army prevented entry to these unsafe areas. More than 70 dead bodies of Egyptian nationals who were killed in Libya floods were deported home and buried in their hometown Beni Suef, Upper Egypt, on Wednesday, Al-Arabyia Al Hadath reported. Additionally, the Egyptian Consulate in Benghazi is currently coordinating with Egyptian ambulance teams to rescue the Egyptian survivors and work fast to return them home.

It took 15 men to clear the layers of dirt from the marble floors, the family said. Up to 20,000 people could be dead in this war-divided country — victims of a perfect storm of extreme weather and state neglect. Inside the Saadawi family home, muddy handprints covered almost every wall, rising with the stairs the family had scrambled up as the waters rose higher and faster. AdvertisementThey were saved when the kitchen wall collapsed, Nizar said, the water rushing into the yard where they had been eating. With winter approaching, they would have to repair the house, but they didn’t know how they would afford it.

| Libya Probes Collapse Of Two Dams After Flood Devastated An Eastern City Killing Over 11000Libya probes collapse of two dams after flood devastated an eastern city, killing over 11,000Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekendBy AP Published Date - 05:12 PM, Sat - 16 September 23A general view shows destruction left by floods after the Mediterranean storm "Daniel" hit Libyas eastern city of Derna, on September 14, 2023. Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekend. But there was no warning about the dams, which collapsed early Monday as most residents were asleep in their homes. The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa, Marj and Shahatt. Others had come to Libya to work or were travelling through in hopes of migrating to Europe.