Search teams combed streets, wrecked buildings, and even the sea on Wednesday to look for bodies in a coastal Libyan city where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed at least 5,100 people.
The Mediterranean city of Derna has struggled to get help after Sunday night’s deluge washed away most access roads. Aid workers who managed to reach the city described devastation in its center, with thousands still missing and tens of thousands left homeless. “Bodies are everywhere, inside houses, in the streets, at sea. Wherever you go, you find dead men, women, and children,” Emad al-Falah, an aid worker from Benghazi, said over the phone from Derna. “Entire families were lost.”
MEDITERRANIAN STORM DANIEL…
What caused all this flooding you may be wondering? While Storm Daniel and all the rain didn’t help, it was the collapse of a nearby dam that caused most of it. But yes, extreme rainfall didn’t help either. Two dams in the mountains above the city of Derna collapsed, sending floodwaters roaring down the Wadi Derna river and through the city center, sweeping away entire city blocks.
Extreme rainfall from a storm system called Storm Daniel has hit parts of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean, leading to devastating flooding and massive loss of life in Libya and other areas of Southern Europe. The worst affected countries are Libya, Greece, Türkiye, and Bulgaria.
Up to 10,000 people were reported missing by the Libyan Red Crescent Society, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The number of casualties was not immediately confirmed, but thousands were feared dead after waters from burst dams flooded the city of Derna.
Libya’s National Meteorological Centre said that the storm reached a peak in Northeastern Libya on the 10th of September, with strong winds of 70 – 80 km/h. This caused communications interruption and the fall of electricity towers and trees. Torrential rains of between 150 – 240 mm (6-10 inches) caused flash floods in several cities, including Al-Bayda, which recorded the highest daily rainfall rate of 414.1 mm (16 inches) from the 10th of September from 8am to 11am. The National Meteorological Centre said this was a new rainfall record.
Entire neighborhoods in Derna disappeared, along with their residents swept away by water after two ageing dams collapsed making the situation catastrophic and out of control, said the Libyan meteorological service.
AFTERMATH…
As much as a quarter of the city has disappeared, emergency officials said.
Waves rose as high as 7 meters (23 feet), Yann Fridez, head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Libya, told broadcaster France24.
Mohammed Derna, a teacher in the city, said he, his family, and neighbors rushed to the roof of their apartment building, stunned at the volume of water rushing by. It reached the second story of many buildings, he said. They watched people below, including women and children being washed away.
Of seven roads leading into the city, only two were left intact as torrential rains caused continuing flash floods across the region.
Derna has a population of around 100,000 residents. Emergency Services reported an initial death toll of more than 2,300 in Derna alone and said more than 5,000 people remained missing while about 7,000 were injured.
But officials from the rival government in Eastern Libya said “thousands” more perished in the floods in Derna and that the death toll could reach 10,000.