The Mediterranean storm Daniel led to devastating floods in Libya breaking dams and washing away entire neighbourhoods in the coastal areas of the east African nation. A report by the Associated Press said that as many as 2,000 people were feared dead, one leader of the country said.
Derna emerged as the worst affected city in Libya. The city, already struggling to emerge from the clutches of years of unrest and terrorism has now become inaccessible due to the floods.
The government released data puts the death toll from the weekend flooding at 61. This tally did not include Derna. The Associated Press says that two dams burst in Derna and as many as thousands were carried away along with the floodwaters.
Videos making rounds on the internet shed light on the magnitude of the devastation and entire residential areas were erased along a river that runs down from the mountains through the city centre. The multistory apartment buildings that once stood well back from the river were pictured collapsed into the mud.
Prime Minister Ossama Hamad of the government in east Libya said 2,000 were feared dead in Derna and thousands were believed missing. He said Derna is now a disaster zone. The prime minister also announced three days of mourning and ordered flags across the country to be lowered to half-staff.
Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for the country’s armed forces, said the death toll in Derna has crossed 2,000 and around 5,000-6,000 of the city’s residents are missing.
Derna infrastructure is in a dilapidated state as extremism gripped the resource-rich eastern African for decades following the ouster of the Moammar Gadhafi government. The nation remains divided between two rival administrations, one in the east and one in the west, each backed by militias and foreign governments while cities like Derna are left with crumbling and inadequate infrastructure.
The lack of a centralised government will further exacerbate the problems of those affected by the floods. This means that aid as well as restructuring and repairing the infrastructure and the nation’s roads and public services will be a tough objective for authorities to accomplish in the wake of the devastation.
In Bayda, at least 46 people were reported dead while seven others died in the coastal town of Susa and seven others were reported dead in the towns of Shahatt and Omar al-Mokhtar, according to local authorities and Ossama Abduljaleel, health minister. One died in the town of Marj.
The local media reported that the situation in Derna is catastrophic with no power or communication.
Foreign governments, like the UAE and Egypt, sent messages of support. The UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said Abu Dhabi will send humanitarian assistance and search-and-rescue teams to eastern Libya. Algeria, Turkey and Iraq also sent condolences and assured support.
Georgette Gagnon, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Libya and the US Embassy in Libya called on local, national and international partners to come together and determine how to deliver aid to the worst impacted areas.