Libya’s deadly floods are described by survivors

Daniel the Dams that Collapsed in Wadi Derna, Libya, a Country Rich in Oil: Apparent Mismanagement and Lack of Maintenance

The death toll from a flooded city in Libya has gone up to 11,000, according to the Libyan Red Crescent.

The country that is rich in oil has been mired in conflict since a 2011 uprising brought down long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The strongest Mediterranean storm in recorded history, Daniel caused deadly flooding in towns across eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. As the storm pounded the coast Sunday night, residents said they heard loud explosions when two dams outside the city collapsed. The valley that cuts through the city is known as Wadi Derna, and it was flooded last year.

“If there would have been a normal operating meteorological service, they could have issued the warnings,” World Meteorological Organization head Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva. The authorities would have been able to evacuate.

The WMO said earlier this week that the National Meteorological Center had issued warnings 72 hours before the flooding, notifying all governmental authorities by email and through media.

Officials in eastern Libya warned the public about the coming storm and on Saturday had ordered residents to evacuate areas along the coast, fearing a surge from the sea. There was no warning that the dams were collapsing.

The storm reflected its intensity and also Libya’s vulnerability. Oil-rich Libya has been divided between rival governments for most of the past decade — one in the east, the other in the capital, Tripoli — and one result has been widespread neglect of infrastructure.

The two dams that collapsed were built in the 70s. A report by a state-run audit agency in 2021 said the dams had not been maintained despite the allocation of more than 2 million euros for that purpose in 2012 and 2013.

The Prime Minister called on the Public Prosecutor to open an investigation into the collapse of the dams in order to address maintenance issues.

The floods and mudslides in northern Libya’s southern hemisphere have caused more than 400 deaths, including at least 70,000 Egyptians, and many more people killed

While the Tobruk-based government of east Libya is leading relief efforts, the Tripoli-based western government allocated the equivalent of $412 million for reconstruction in Derna and other eastern towns, and an armed group in Tripoli sent a convoy with humanitarian aid.

The minister said at least 3,000 bodies were buried by Thursday morning while another 2,000 were still processed and some transferred to nearby towns and cities.

Up to thirteen feet high, the debris from overturned cars and chunks of concrete can be buried under a mess of mud and debris. Heavy equipment has been difficult to come in as the floods washed out or blocked roads in the area.

The storm also killed around 170 people in other parts of eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa, Um Razaz and Marj, the health minister said.

The dead in eastern Libya included at least 84 Egyptians, who were transferred to their home country on Wednesday. More than 70 came from one village. There were many Sudanese migrants who were killed in the disaster.

The floods have also displaced at least 30,000 people in Derna, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, and several thousand others were forced to leave their homes in other eastern towns, it said.

The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads, preventing the arrival of international rescue teams and humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian convoys have been able to enter the city over the last 48 hours, thanks to local authorities clearing some routes.

An emergency appeal for $71.4 million was issued by the U.N. humanitarian office. The humanitarian office, known as OCHA, estimated that approximately 884,000 people in five provinces live in areas directly affected by the rain and flooding.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it has provided 6000 bags of body bags to local authorities as well as medical, food and other supplies to hard-hit communities.

International aid arrived earlier this week in Benghazi, which is 150 miles west of Derna. Several countries have sent aid and rescue teams, including neighboring Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. The navy vessel was sent to Italy on Thursday carrying two navy helicopters and humanitarian aid.

Biden said the United States would send money to relief organizations and coordinate with Libyan authorities to provide additional support.

The explosion of a dam in Libya’s deadly floods describes catastrophic scenes and tragic losses for Ehdaa Bujeldain and her family

The sound of a bomb going off in the middle of the night sounded like a bomb for Ehdaa Bujeldain, an English teacher living in eastern Libya with her family.

She told NPR about the explosion she and her family heard on Sunday night. “We lost electricity and connection. We didn’t know what had happened. Then we heard it was a dam in Derna that had collapsed.”

In the four days since the floods, she and her family were without electricity or internet, but now they have started to see the full extent of the damage.

Najib Tarhoni, a doctor in the main hospital in the city of Libya, has family members who survived the flood. He says that they made it to safety but are forever different.

He says that these people are ghosts. They have seen death, not just in their families but within themselves as well. Their spirits are crushed and their hopes are lost. How can you come back from that? It’s close to total destruction.

Source: Survivors of Libya’s deadly floods describe catastrophic scenes and tragic losses

Living in the Wadi Derna Valley: A flood survivor’s death tells of his family and their family’s tragedy

The scale of the flood was appalling and was a huge reminder of the issues posed by climate change, according to the United Nations aid chief.

At first, he says, it didn’t seem unusual. Every year, the Wadi Derna valley fills up with rainwater, creating the seasonal river. Family and friends were sending him videos of water in the valley as usual, just as they always have in the past.

“The water reached the second floor of my cousin Seraj’s house,” he says. He saw a lot of water coming into the house. The family was told to climb up onto the third floor in the middle of the night.

The morning after, his brother made a difficult journey from Tobruk to Derna to look for relatives, confronting roads cut off by the floods. The sister of one of them was missing.

He says the situation was a disaster. People were buried under their houses. First they didn’t find her, they only found her husband and the children, so they just kept looking. They didn’t find her in the house because the flood took her away.”

Source: Survivors of Libya’s deadly floods describe catastrophic scenes and tragic losses

Ibrahim Ozer, a search and rescue worker in Derna, Turkey: “It’s like a flood,” he says

Ibrahim Ozer, with the Turkish Red Crescent organization, was part of a search and rescue team in Derna earlier in the week. He described the difficulty of transporting and delivering aid across a city split in half.

“There is one river, it is connecting east to west, all the bridges collapsed, there is no passage from one side to the other side,” he says. “It’s not a regular flood — it’s like a storm, a flood and an earthquake.”

There is another catastrophe to come, he says. “The thousands and thousands of people who [lost everything], who lost their houses, their jobs — these people now need jobs, they need taking care of, they need psychological support.”