Causes.com
| 9.15.23

Catastrophic Flooding in Libya Kills Over 11,000

Share to help Libyan communities impacted by the flood.

Updated September 15, 2023, 2:00 p.m. EST

  • Officials estimate that at least 11,300 people died in the Libya floods. An additional 10,100 people are reported missing in the city of Derna, according to Marie el-Drese, secretary general of the Libyan Red Crescent.
  • The death toll is feared to reach 20,000 — a fifth of the city's population.
  • Rescuers are searching underwater and under rubble, attempting to clean up as many dead as possible to avoid an outbreak of disease. 
  • Mayor Abdel Moneim al-Ghaithi said on Wednesday night:

"The situation is very large and surprising for the city of Derna. We were not able to confront it with our capabilities that preceded the storm and the torrent."

Updated September 12, 2023, 4:30 p.m.

  • It's been confirmed by local authorities that the floods killed more than 5,000 people, and at least 20,000 people have been displaced. The death toll and missing persons count is expected to rise in the coming days. 
  • The Libyan government is receiving criticism for failing to warn or evacuate residents as the storm showcased its destructiveness in Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria last week. Anas El Gomati, director of the policy research center Sadeq Institute, said:

"We say Mother Nature, but this is the act of man — it's the incompetence of Libya's political elites. There's no words you can find to describe the biblical level of suffering those people have to endure."

What’s the story?

  • After torrential rain from Storm Daniel in northeast Libya caused two dams to collapse, extreme flooding hit the region, resulting in at least 3,000 deaths. Another 10,000 people are believed to be missing. 
  • The powerful low-pressure storm system swept across several cities in Libya and brought catastrophic flooding to Greece. Daniel then turned into a medicane, a tropical cyclone, in the Mediterranean.
  • Water engineers said it’s likely that the upper dam, around eight miles from the city, failed first. As the water rushed down the river valley, the second dam collapsed about half a mile away from the low-lying part of the city of Derna.

Devastation in Derna

  • Derna has seen the worst of the destruction. According to authorities, entire neighborhoods have been washed away, and around 6,000 people are missing. Othman Abduljalil, health minister in Libya’s eastern administration, called the aftermath “catastrophic.”
  • Hospitals are no longer operational in the city, and morgues are full. Osama Aly, a spokesperson for the Emergency and Ambulance service, said dead bodies are piling up outside the morgues, as there’s nowhere to put them.
  • Anas Barghathy, a doctor volunteering in Derna, said:

“There are no first-hand emergency services. People are working at the moment to collect the rotting bodies.”

Libya’s government 

  • Libya is especially vulnerable to deadly disasters because of the power struggle between the two administrations, amounting to long-running political tension and conflict. 
  • Political chaos has weighed on the nation since 2011 when dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed, and the country was split into two leaderships. In the northwest, the Government of National Unity is an internationally recognized administration operating from the capital of Tripoli, led by Abdulhamid Dbeibeh and backed by the U.N. Its rival parliament, where Derna lies, is led by Osama Hamad and controlled by commander Khalifa Haftar and the Libyan National Army (LNA). 
  • According to Libyan journalist Abdulkader Assad, the response to the natural disaster has been delayed due to the unorganized and tense political system:

“There are no rescue teams, there are no trained rescuers in Libya. Everything over the last 12 years was about war. There are two governments in Libya…and that is actually slowing down the help that is coming to Libya because it’s a little bit confusing. You have people who are pledging to help but help is not coming.”

How to help

 

Share to help Libyan communities impacted by the flood.

 

-Jamie Epstein 

(Photo credit: Al Jazeera)

  • 99.3k
    LeslieG
    09/14/2023

    Storm Daniel, a Medicane, hit Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey wiping away bridges and homes with more rain than ever before due to climate change record temperatures before hitting Libya, collapsing 2 dams and killing 6,000-10,000 with 10,000 missing and 30,000 displaced.

     At least 6,000 are known dead overwhelming hospital morgues, and possibly as many as 20,000 with 5,000 to 10,000 missing and 30,000 displaced based on the number of districts destroyed by flood waters. Counts are difficult to confirm with so many washed out to sea, hospitals closed except for morgues, and 2 rival governments operating in Libya.

     It’s unknown if the 1970s era damns failed due to lack of maintenance, hurricane strength rain or both.

     What is clear is all infrastructure needs evaluation for the record breaking temperatures and rain that has been occurring every year.

     “Spokesperson of the interior ministry Lieutenant Tarek al-Kharraz on Wednesday told the AFP news agency that 3,840 deaths had been recorded in the Mediterranean city so far, including 3,190 who have already been buried. Among them were at least 400 foreigners, mostly from Sudan and Egypt.”

     “Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the administration that runs eastern Libya, told the Reuters news agency more than 5,300 dead had been counted so far, and said the number was likely to increase significantly and might even double.”

     “Derna Mayor Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television the estimated number of deaths in the city could reach between 18,000 to 20,000 based on the number of districts destroyed by the flood.”

     “Officials have put the number of missing at 10,000. The UN aid agency OCHA said the figure was at least 5,000.”

     “Morgues are full in hospitals that remain out of service despite the desperate need to treat survivors of the disaster, according to staff.”

     “Rescue teams have arrived from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar”

     “The two Wadi Derna dams were built between 1973 and 1977 by Yugoslav construction company Hidrotehnika-Hidroenergetika, now based in Serbia, as part of an infrastructure network that would irrigate surrounding fields while supplying Derna and nearby communities with much-needed water. The two dams, dubbed Derna and Mansour, are described on the company’s site as clay-filled embankment dams with a height of 75 metres and 45 metres respectively. The Derna dam’s storage capacity is listed as 18 million cubic meters of water, while the smaller Mansour dam has a capacity of just 1.5 million cubic meters. “

     “It is too early to determine whether the failure of the dam was caused by a lack of maintenance or whether it was not designed to be resilient to the exceptional amount of rainfall that fell”

     “Stephens stressed that it was still unclear to what extent even a well-maintained dam of the same proportions could have withstood the hurricane-strength storm’s onslaught, she said that such extreme weather events would only become more common as the climate crisis worsened. “

     https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/what-caused-floods-libya-why-are-they-so-bad-2023-09-14/

     https://www.reuters.com/world/mediterraneans-devastating-storm-daniel-may-be-harbinger-storms-come-2023-09-12/

     https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2023/9/13/libyans-search-for-families-after-catastrophic-flood-kill-thousands

     https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/14/destruction-derna-flooding-libya-port-city

     https://amp.france24.com/en/africa/20230913-libya-s-deadly-dam-collapse-was-decades-in-the-making

  • 47.8k
    Andy
    09/13/2023

    Around the world, we are witnessing OUR HUMAN impact on our planet! Another study trying to put 'numbers' together to 'measure' how close we are to a tipping point.

    Earth is outside its 'safe operating space for humanity' on most key measurements, study says (from @AP)

    https://apnews.com/article/c8582c3ae0344b5a88cc38cd8e725702

    From the article ...

    "University of Michigan environmental studies dean Jonathan Overpeck, who wasn’t part of the study, called the study “deeply troubling in its implications for the planet and people should be worried.”

    “The analysis is balanced in that it clearly sounds a flashing red alarm, but it is not overly alarmist,” Overpeck said. “Importantly, there is hope.” "

    And a little more ....

    "But Carnegie Mellon environmental engineering professor Granger Morgan, who wasn’t part of the study, said, “Experts don’t agree on exactly where the limits are, or how much the planet’s different systems may interact, but we are getting dangerously close.”

    “I’ve often said if we don’t quickly cut back on how we are stressing the Earth, we’re toast,” Morgan said in an email. “This paper says it’s more likely that we’re burnt toast.” "

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    Today at 4:51 AM
  • 6,775
    Bruce
    09/13/2023

    This is horrible.   

    It is the result of Storm Daniel.  

    Storm Daniel was a "Medicane" or a Mediterranean Hurricane also called Cyclones.  

    Storm Daniel was a Category 1.  

    These storms were extremely rare in the past.  

    However with Global Heating and the Climate Crisis they are increasing in severity and frequency.  

    In 2020, there was one that reached a Category 2--but it did not hit a vulnerable dam and kill ~5,000 people!  

    This will continue to worsen all around the world.

     

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    Today at 4:51 AM