Libyan city Derna's mayor Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi said that the death toll due to flooding could reach up to 20,000 based on the extent of the area of the city destroyed. Over 5,300 people died after two dam bursts flooded Derna. World Meteorological Organization said that casualties could've been avoided if Libya had a functional weather service able to issue warnings.
AMMAN, Sept 14 (MENA) - Jordan has dispatched a second aid plane to flood-ravaged Libya, carrying essential logistics and medical supplies, as well as a Jordan International Search and Rescue Team to help locate and rescue individuals who are trapped or stranded as a result of the floods and torrents, Petra news agency reported. The rescue mission includes 88 members, of which are 5 doctors from the Royal Medical Services, said spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Sinan Majali. The plane was sent under royal directives by the Jordan Hashemite Charitable Organization (JHCO), in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, the Jordan Armed Forces - Arab Army, and the Public Security Directorate (PSD). The rescue team is associated with the Civil Defense Department at the PSD and is renowned worldwide, having participated in numerous international relief efforts, including the most recent search and rescue mission for missing persons following the earthquakes in Turkiye this past February.
The city of Derna has buried thousands of people in mass graves, Libyan officials said Thursday, as search teams scoured ruins left by devastating floods and the city’s mayor said that the death toll could triple or more. Daniel, an unusually strong Mediterranean storm, caused deadly flooding in towns across eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. The dams that collapsed outside Derna were built in the 1970s and have not been maintained for years, local media reported. He said most of the dead were buried in mass graves outside Derna, while others were transferred to nearby towns and cities. The dead in eastern Libya included at least 84 Egyptians, who were transferred to their home country on Wednesday.
The United Nations agency also noted that numerous additional individuals have been left without shelter in neighbouring towns. The death count now stands at 5,500, and 7,000 individuals sustain injuries. The devastating floods resulted from the breach of two river dams when the storm descended on Sunday afternoon. Osama Ali, spokesperson for the emergency services based in Tripoli, expressed concern over approximately 10,000 people reported as missing. These devastated regions now face a critical shortage of essential supplies, as reported by the Xinhua news agency.
Libya flooding leaves thousands dead The city of Derna in eastern Libya was home to nearly 100,000 people when Mediterranean Storm Daniel struck, causing catastrophic flooding. As CBS News' Holly Williams reports, one Libyan official says more than 5,000 people were killed. The Red Cross previously said 10,000 were missing.
DERNA: As Libya was reeling on Wednesday from a massive flood that left thousands dead and missing, wreaking havoc in the eastern city of Derna, relief missions gathered pace with Turkiye, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates among the first nations to rush aid to the country. Many were swept out into the sea, with bodies later washing up on beaches littered with debris and car wrecks. The United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA on Wednesday reported estimates of “over 2,000 deaths and at least 5,000 people missing”. Several nations offered urgent aid and rescue teams to help address what one UN official called “a calamity of epic proportions”. Hurricane-strength Mediterranean storms such as Daniel — which earlier hit Turkiye, Bulgaria and Greece — are known as “medicanes” which can gain strength as warmer air absorbs more moisture.
More than 1,500 corpses were collected, and half of them had been buried as of Tuesday evening, the health minister for eastern Libya said. The destruction came to Derna and other parts of eastern Libya on Sunday night. Karsten Haustein, a climate scientist and meteorologist at Leipzig University, said in a statement that Daniel dumped 440 millimetres (15.7 inches) of rain on eastern Libya in a short time. The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the town of Bayda, where about 50 people were reported dead. Hundreds of families were displaced and took shelter in schools and other government buildings in Benghazi and elsewhere in eastern Libya.
More than 6000 people have lost their lives due to heavy flooding that caused massive devastation across Libya, reported CNN on Wednesday. As per Egypt's emigration ministry, the government buried 87 Egyptian victims who died in Libya. The flooding in Derna has displaced over 30,000 people, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Libya. Storm Daniel's devastation has made it considerably more difficult for rescuers to remove roads and debris in order to find survivors. The storm disrupted communications, complicating rescue attempts and raising concern among family members living outside Libya who are waiting for word on missing loved ones.
It was the North African country’s deadliest earthquake since 1960 and its most powerful in more than a century. Emergency members work near a building destroyed when a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hit the city of Derna in Libya on September 12, 2023. Offers of assistance for Libya and Morocco have come from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Tunisia and Turkiye. Rescue search through the rubble of an earthquake-damaged house in Imi N'Tala village near Amizmiz in Morocco on September 13, 2023. People who were displaced by the earthquake carry humanitarian aid to their tents in the town of Imi N'tala, outside Marrakech, Morocco, on Sept. 13, 2023.
Flood death toll in eastern Libya’s city of Derna surpassed 5,100Ossama Ali, a spokesman for the Ambulance and Emergency Centre in eastern Libya, said the toll for the entire region is at least 5,202. By AP Updated On - 05:28 PM, Wed - 13 September 23Workers bury the bodies of victims of recent flooding caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel near the city of Derna, Libya, Wednesday. Derna: A local health official in eastern Libya says the flood death toll in the city of Derna has risen to more than 5,100. Ossama Ali, a spokesman for the Ambulance and Emergency Centre in eastern Libya, said the toll for the entire region is at least 5,202. He says the number of deaths is likely to increase in the coastal city since search and rescue teams are still collecting bodies from the streets, buildings and the sea.
At least 5,300 people have died and potentially thousands more are missing after torrential rain and catastrophic flooding occurred in Storm Daniel’s wake. “All of us are affected,” Anas El Gomati, founder of the Libyan think tank Sadeq Institute, told me. “I can’t get my head around the negligence.”What Derna’s tragedy says about LibyaThe problems of Libyan infrastructure predate 2011. Qaddafi, who ruled from 1969 until his assassination, deliberately decentralized the Libyan state to prevent coups, and doled out ministries to various tribal leaders without a broader coordination. The US’s close regional partners, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have enabled Haftar even though Russia also backs him.
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Libya Floods Live: Heavy rains and flooding have caused widespread devastation in Libya, leaving thousands of people dead and missing. The worst-hit area is the eastern city of Derna, where two dams collapsed, unleashing a torrent of water that swept away homes and businesses. The floods have also affected other parts of eastern Libya, as well as the coastal city of Benghazi. In addition to the loss of life, the floods have also caused widespread damage to infrastructure. The economic impact of the floods is likely to be significant, and it will take years for Libya to recover.
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It is reported that the Strom Daniel that struck eastern Libya has killed thousands of people. I extend my deepest condolences to the suffering people of Libya, hoping they will swiftly overcome these dark days. It's not like the days when France's then-President Nicolas Sarkozy raced to be the first state to bomb Libya in 2011. The chaos that would result in Gaddafi's lynching in Libya had to be deepened urgently, and nothing should have been left standing. By the way, for those who are curious, Sarkozy was arrested in 2018 on charges of "taking money from Gaddafi."
