CLIMATE CRISIS
STORM DANIEL HITS LIBYA,
DAMS BURST
How Libya’s chaos left its people vulnerable to deadly flooding
NATO NATION BUILDING
LONDON (AP) — A storm that has killed thousands of people and left thousands more missing in Libya is the latest blow to a country that has been gutted by years of chaos and division.
The floods are the most fatal environmental disaster in the country’s modern history. Years of war and lack of a central government have left it with crumbling infrastructure that was vulnerable to the intense rains. Libya is currently the only country yet to develop a climate strategy, according to the United Nations.
The north African country has been divided between rival administrations and beset by militia conflict since NATO-backed Arab Spring uprising toppled autocratic ruler Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
The city of Derna in the country’s east saw the most destruction, as large swaths of riverside buildings vanished, washed away after two dams burst.
Videos of the aftermath show water gushing through the port city’s remaining tower blocks and overturned cars, and later, bodies lined up on sidewalks covered with blankets, collected for burial. Residents say the only indication of danger was the loud sound of the dams cracking, with no warning system or evacuation plan.
Here’s a look at why the storm was so destructive and what obstacles stand in the way of getting aid to those who need it most:
TWO GOVERNMENTS, TWO PRIME MINISTERS
Since 2014. Libya has been split between two rival governments, each backed by international patrons and numerous armed militias on the ground.
In Tripoli, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah heads Libya’s internationally recognized government. In Benghazi, the rival prime minister, Ossama Hamad, heads the eastern administration, which is backed by powerful military commander Khalifa Hiftar.
Both governments and the eastern commander have separately pledged to help the rescue efforts in the flood-affected areas, but they have no record of successful cooperation.
Rival parliaments have for years failed to unify despite international pressure, including planned elections in 2021 that were never held.
As recent as 2020, the two sides were in an all-out war. Hifter’s forces besieged Tripoli in a year-long failed military campaign to try to capture the capital, killing thousands. Then in 2022, former eastern leader Fathi Basagah tried to seat his government in Tripoli before clashes between rival militias forced him to withdraw.
The support of regional and world powers has further entrenched the divisions. Hifter's forces are backed by Egypt, Russia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, while the west Libya administration is backed by Turkey, Qatar and Italy.
The UAE, Egypt and Turkey are all helping rescue efforts on the ground. But as of Tuesday, rescue operations were struggling to reach Derna.
Claudia Gazzini, a senior Libya analyst at International Crisis Group, says the problem is partially logistical with many of the roads entering the port city having been severed by the storm. But political strife also plays a role.
“International efforts to send rescue teams have to go through the Tripoli-based government,” said Gazzini. That means permissions to allow aid inside the most affected areas have to be approved by rival authorities.
She was skeptical the Benghazi government could manage the problem alone, she said.
GROWING UNREST AND DISCONTENT
The flooding follows a long line of problems born from the country’s lawlessness.
Last month, protests broke out across Libya after news broke of a secret meeting between the Libyan and Israeli foreign ministers. The demonstrations turned into a movement calling for Debibah to resign.
Earlier in August, sporadic fighting broke out between two rival militia forces in the capital, killing at least 45 people, a reminder of the influence rogue armed groups wield across Libya.
Libya has become a major transit point for Middle Eastern and African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to seek a better life in Europe. Militias and human traffickers have benefited from the instability in Libya, smuggling migrants across borders from six nations, including Egypt, Algeria and Sudan.
Meanwhile, Libya’s rich oil reserves have done little to help its population. The production of crude oil, Libya’s most valued export, has at times slowed to a trickle due to blockades and security threats to companies. Allocation of oil revenues has become a key point of disagreement.
TALE OF A NEGLECTED CITY
Much of Derna was constructed when Libya was under Italian occupation in the first half of the 20th century. It became famous for its scenic white beachfront houses and palm gardens.
But in the aftermath of Gaddafi’s ouster in 2011, it disintegrated into a hub for Islamist extremist groups, was bombarded by Egyptian airstrikes and later besieged by forces loyal to Hiftar. The city was taken by Hiftar’s forces in 2019.
Like other cities in the east of the country, it has not seen much rebuilding or investment since the revolution. Most of its modern infrastructure was constructed during the Gaddafi era, including the toppled Wadi Derna dam, built by a Yugoslav company in the mid 1970s.
According to Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow specializing in Libya at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, Hiftar views the city and its population with suspicion, and has been reluctant to allow it too much independence. Last year, for instance, a massive reconstruction plan for the city was led by outsiders from Benghazi and elsewhere, not natives of Derna.
“Tragically, this mistrust might prove calamitous during the upcoming post-disaster period,” Harchaoui said.
___
Associated Press writer Cara Anna contributed to this report from Nairobi, Kenya.
Jack Jeffery, The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — A storm that has killed thousands of people and left thousands more missing in Libya is the latest blow to a country that has been gutted by years of chaos and division.
The floods are the most fatal environmental disaster in the country’s modern history. Years of war and lack of a central government have left it with crumbling infrastructure that was vulnerable to the intense rains. Libya is currently the only country yet to develop a climate strategy, according to the United Nations.
The north African country has been divided between rival administrations and beset by militia conflict since NATO-
The city of Derna in the country’s east saw the most destruction, as large swaths of riverside buildings vanished, washed away after two dams burst.
Videos of the aftermath show water gushing through the port city’s remaining tower blocks and overturned cars, and later, bodies lined up on sidewalks covered with blankets, collected for burial. Residents say the only indication of danger was the loud sound of the dams cracking, with no warning system or evacuation plan.
Here’s a look at why the storm was so destructive and what obstacles stand in the way of getting aid to those who need it most:
TWO GOVERNMENTS, TWO PRIME MINISTERS
Since 2014. Libya has been split between two rival governments, each backed by international patrons and numerous armed militias on the ground.
In Tripoli, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah heads Libya’s internationally recognized government. In Benghazi, the rival prime minister, Ossama Hamad, heads the eastern administration, which is backed by powerful military commander Khalifa Hiftar.
Both governments and the eastern commander have separately pledged to help the rescue efforts in the flood-affected areas, but they have no record of successful cooperation.
Rival parliaments have for years failed to unify despite international pressure, including planned elections in 2021 that were never held.
As recent as 2020, the two sides were in an all-out war. Hifter’s forces besieged Tripoli in a year-long failed military campaign to try to capture the capital, killing thousands. Then in 2022, former eastern leader Fathi Basagah tried to seat his government in Tripoli before clashes between rival militias forced him to withdraw.
The support of regional and world powers has further entrenched the divisions. Hifter's forces are backed by Egypt, Russia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, while the west Libya administration is backed by Turkey, Qatar and Italy.
The UAE, Egypt and Turkey are all helping rescue efforts on the ground. But as of Tuesday, rescue operations were struggling to reach Derna.
Claudia Gazzini, a senior Libya analyst at International Crisis Group, says the problem is partially logistical with many of the roads entering the port city having been severed by the storm. But political strife also plays a role.
“International efforts to send rescue teams have to go through the Tripoli-based government,” said Gazzini. That means permissions to allow aid inside the most affected areas have to be approved by rival authorities.
She was skeptical the Benghazi government could manage the problem alone, she said.
GROWING UNREST AND DISCONTENT
The flooding follows a long line of problems born from the country’s lawlessness.
Last month, protests broke out across Libya after news broke of a secret meeting between the Libyan and Israeli foreign ministers. The demonstrations turned into a movement calling for Debibah to resign.
Earlier in August, sporadic fighting broke out between two rival militia forces in the capital, killing at least 45 people, a reminder of the influence rogue armed groups wield across Libya.
Libya has become a major transit point for Middle Eastern and African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to seek a better life in Europe. Militias and human traffickers have benefited from the instability in Libya, smuggling migrants across borders from six nations, including Egypt, Algeria and Sudan.
Meanwhile, Libya’s rich oil reserves have done little to help its population. The production of crude oil, Libya’s most valued export, has at times slowed to a trickle due to blockades and security threats to companies. Allocation of oil revenues has become a key point of disagreement.
TALE OF A NEGLECTED CITY
Much of Derna was constructed when Libya was under Italian occupation in the first half of the 20th century. It became famous for its scenic white beachfront houses and palm gardens.
But in the aftermath of Gaddafi’s ouster in 2011, it disintegrated into a hub for Islamist extremist groups, was bombarded by Egyptian airstrikes and later besieged by forces loyal to Hiftar. The city was taken by Hiftar’s forces in 2019.
Like other cities in the east of the country, it has not seen much rebuilding or investment since the revolution. Most of its modern infrastructure was constructed during the Gaddafi era, including the toppled Wadi Derna dam, built by a Yugoslav company in the mid 1970s.
According to Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow specializing in Libya at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, Hiftar views the city and its population with suspicion, and has been reluctant to allow it too much independence. Last year, for instance, a massive reconstruction plan for the city was led by outsiders from Benghazi and elsewhere, not natives of Derna.
“Tragically, this mistrust might prove calamitous during the upcoming post-disaster period,” Harchaoui said.
___
Associated Press writer Cara Anna contributed to this report from Nairobi, Kenya.
Jack Jeffery, The Associated Press
More than 5,000 presumed dead in Libya after ‘catastrophic’ flooding breaks dams and sweeps away homes
Story by By Hamdi Alkhshali, Mostafa Salem and Kareem El Damanhoury, CNN •4h
CNN
Video shows water gushing through port as 8 months worth of rain falls on Libya
The UN-backed Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, sits in Tripoli in northwest Libya, while its eastern rival is controlled by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA), who support the eastern-based parliament led by Osama Hamad.
Derna, which lies some 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of Benghazi, falls under the control of Haftar and his eastern administration.
The country’s complex politics “pose challenges for developing risk communication and hazard assessment strategies, coordinating rescue operations, and also potentially for maintenance of critical infrastructure such as dams,” Leslie Mabon, lecturer in Environmental Systems at The Open University, told the Science Media Center.
Dams collapse
The collapse of two dams, which sent water rushing towards Derna, has caused catastrophic damage, authorities said Tuesday.
“Three bridges were destroyed. The flowing water carried away entire neighborhoods, eventually depositing them into the sea,” said Ahmed Mismari, spokesperson for the LNA.
Cars and rubble on a street in Derna, Libya, on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. - Libyan government/AP© Provided by CNN
Homes in valleys were washed away by strong muddy currents carrying vehicles and debris, said Aly, the Emergency and Ambulance authority spokesperson.
Phone lines in the city are down, complicating rescue efforts, with workers unable to enter Derna due to the heavy destruction, Aly told CNN.
Aly said authorities didn’t anticipate the scale of the disaster.
“The weather conditions were not studied well, the seawater levels and rainfall [were not studied], the wind speeds, there was no evacuation of families that could be in the path of the storm and in valleys,” he said.
“Libya was not prepared for a catastrophe like that. It has not witnessed that level of catastrophe before. We are admitting there were shortcomings even though this is the first time we face that level of catastrophe,” Aly told Al Hurra channel.
Settlements, vehicles and workplaces damaged after floods caused by heavy rains in Misrata, Libya on September 10, 2023. - Emhmmed Mohamed Kshiem/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
‘Unprecedented flooding’
The storm looks certain to be one of the deadliest on record in North Africa.
Libya is facing an “unprecedented” situation, said Hamad, the head of the eastern administration, according to a report from state news organization Libyan News Agency (LANA).
Mismari, the LNA spokesperson, said the floods have affected several cities, including Al-Bayda, Al-Marj, Tobruk, Takenis, Al-Bayada, and Battah, as well as the eastern coast all the way to Benghazi. At least 37 residential buildings were swept away into the seas.
A boy pulls a suitcase past debris in a flash-flood damaged area in Derna, eastern Libya, on September 11, 2023. - AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
“We are not prepared for such a scale of devastation,” Mismari said.
Libyan authorities need three types of specialized search groups including teams to recover bodies from rugged valleys after torrents dispersed them, teams to recover bodies from under the rubble, and teams to recover bodies from the sea, he added.
Tens of thousands of military personnel have been deployed, but many of the flood-stricken regions are still inaccessible to emergency workers, according to Mismari.
Several countries and human rights groups have offered aid as rescue teams scramble to find survivors under the debris and rubble.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the country faces “an unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” in the wake of the disaster.
Ciaran Donelly, IRC’s senior vice president for crisis response, said the challenges in Libya “are immense, with phone lines down and heavy destruction hampering rescue efforts.” He added that climate change has compounded the “steadily deteriorating” situation in the country after years of conflict and instability.
People inspect an area damaged by flash floods in Derna, in eastern Libya, on Monday. - -/AFP/AFP via Getty Images© Provided by CNN
Turkish aircraft delivering humanitarian aid have arrived in Libya, according to Turkey’s Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) on Tuesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country would send 168 search and rescue teams and humanitarian aid to Benghazi, according to state run news agency Anadoulu Agency on Tuesday.
Italy is sending a civil defense team to assist with rescue operations, the country’s Civil Protection Department said Tuesday.
People stand in a damaged road as a powerful storm and heavy rainfall flooded hit Shahhat city, Libya, September 11, 2023. - Omar Jarhman/Reuters© Provided by CNN
The US Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, announced that its special envoy, ambassador Richard Norland, had made an official declaration of humanitarian need.
This “will authorize initial funding that the United States will provide in support of relief efforts in Libya. We are coordinating with UN partners and Libyan authorities to assess how best to target official US assistance,” it posted on X (formally known as Twitter).
United Arab Emirates President, Zayed Al Nahyan, has directed to send aid and search and rescue teams while offering his condolences to those affected by the catastrophe, state news agency reported.
A damaged police car in Derna, Libya, on September 11, 2023. - Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi sent a military delegation, led by the Egypt’s Armed Forces’ chief of staff Osama Askar, whom arrived in Libya on Tuesday to coordinate the provision of logistical and humanitarian assistance.
The storm reached a peak in northeastern Libya on Monday, according to a statement from the World Meteorological Organization, citing Libya’s National Meteorological Centre.
Libya’s storm follows deadly flooding in many other parts of the globe including southern Europe and Hong Kong.
CNN’s Laura Paddison, Celine Alkhaldi, Barbie Nadeau, Sharon Braithwaite, Stephanie Halasz, Zahid Mahmood, Nadeen Ebrahim, Monica Sarbu and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed reporting
Story by By Hamdi Alkhshali, Mostafa Salem and Kareem El Damanhoury, CNN •4h
CNN
Video shows water gushing through port as 8 months worth of rain falls on Libya
Duration 2:53 View on Watch
More than 5,000 people are presumed dead and 10,000 missing after heavy rains in northeastern Libya caused two dams to collapse, surging more water into already inundated areas.
Tamer Ramadan, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies delegation in Libya, gave the numbers of missing people during a briefing to reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday. “The death toll is huge,” she said.
At least 5,300 people are thought dead, said the interior ministry of Libya’s eastern government on Tuesday, state media LANA reported. CNN has not been able to independently verify the number of deaths or those missing.
Of those who were killed, at least 145 were Egyptian, officials in the northeastern city of Tobruk, in Libya, said on Tuesday.
In the eastern city of Derna, which has seen the worst of the devastation, as many as 6,000 people remain missing, Othman Abduljalil, health minister in Libya’s eastern administration, told Libya’s Almasar TV. He called the situation “catastrophic,” when he toured the city on Monday.
Whole neighborhoods are believed to have been washed away in the city, according to authorities.
Hospitals in Derna are no longer operable and the morgues are full, said Osama Aly, an Emergency and Ambulance service spokesperson.
Dead bodies have been left outside the morgues on the sidewalks, he told CNN.
“There are no first-hand emergency services. People are working at the moment to collect the rotting bodies,” said Anas Barghathy, a doctor currently volunteering in Derna.
Overturned cars lay among other debris caused by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on September 11, 2023. - AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
‘We are all terrified’
Relatives of people who lived in the destroyed city of Derna told CNN they were terrified after seeing videos of the flooding, with no word from their family members.
Ayah, a Palestinian woman with cousins in Derna, said she has been unable to reach them since the floods.
“I’m really worried about them. I have two cousins who live in Derna. It seems all communications are down and I don’t know if they are alive at this point. It is very terrifying watching the videos coming out of Derna. We are all terrified,” she said.
Emad Milad, a resident of Tobrok, said eight of his relatives died in the flooding in Derma.
“My wife Areej’s sister and her husband both passed away. His whole family is also dead. A total of eight people are all gone. It’s a disaster. It’s a disaster. We are praying for better things,” he said on Tuesday.
‘Ferocious’ weather conditions
The rain, which has swept across several cities in Libya’s north-east, is the result of a very strong low-pressure system that brought catastrophic flooding to Greece last week and moved into the Mediterranean before developing into a tropical-like cyclone known as a medicane.
The deadly storm comes in an unprecedented year of climate disasters and record-breaking weather extremes, from devastating wildfires to oppressive heat.
Just as ocean temperatures around the world soar off the charts due to planet-warming pollution, the temperature of the Mediterranean is well-above average, which scientists say fueled the storm’s heavy rainfall.
“The warmer water does not only fuel those storms in terms of rainfall intensity, it also makes them more ferocious,” Karsten Haustein, climate scientist and meteorologist at Leipzig University in Germany, told the Science Media Center.
Aerial view of flood water as a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hit Shahhat city, Libya, September 11, 2023. - Ali Al-Saadi/Reuters© Provided by CNN
Libya’s vulnerability to extreme weather is increased by its long-running political conflict, which has seen a decade-long power struggle between two rival administrations.
More than 5,000 people are presumed dead and 10,000 missing after heavy rains in northeastern Libya caused two dams to collapse, surging more water into already inundated areas.
Tamer Ramadan, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies delegation in Libya, gave the numbers of missing people during a briefing to reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday. “The death toll is huge,” she said.
At least 5,300 people are thought dead, said the interior ministry of Libya’s eastern government on Tuesday, state media LANA reported. CNN has not been able to independently verify the number of deaths or those missing.
Of those who were killed, at least 145 were Egyptian, officials in the northeastern city of Tobruk, in Libya, said on Tuesday.
In the eastern city of Derna, which has seen the worst of the devastation, as many as 6,000 people remain missing, Othman Abduljalil, health minister in Libya’s eastern administration, told Libya’s Almasar TV. He called the situation “catastrophic,” when he toured the city on Monday.
Whole neighborhoods are believed to have been washed away in the city, according to authorities.
Hospitals in Derna are no longer operable and the morgues are full, said Osama Aly, an Emergency and Ambulance service spokesperson.
Dead bodies have been left outside the morgues on the sidewalks, he told CNN.
“There are no first-hand emergency services. People are working at the moment to collect the rotting bodies,” said Anas Barghathy, a doctor currently volunteering in Derna.
Overturned cars lay among other debris caused by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on September 11, 2023. - AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
‘We are all terrified’
Relatives of people who lived in the destroyed city of Derna told CNN they were terrified after seeing videos of the flooding, with no word from their family members.
Ayah, a Palestinian woman with cousins in Derna, said she has been unable to reach them since the floods.
“I’m really worried about them. I have two cousins who live in Derna. It seems all communications are down and I don’t know if they are alive at this point. It is very terrifying watching the videos coming out of Derna. We are all terrified,” she said.
Emad Milad, a resident of Tobrok, said eight of his relatives died in the flooding in Derma.
“My wife Areej’s sister and her husband both passed away. His whole family is also dead. A total of eight people are all gone. It’s a disaster. It’s a disaster. We are praying for better things,” he said on Tuesday.
‘Ferocious’ weather conditions
The rain, which has swept across several cities in Libya’s north-east, is the result of a very strong low-pressure system that brought catastrophic flooding to Greece last week and moved into the Mediterranean before developing into a tropical-like cyclone known as a medicane.
The deadly storm comes in an unprecedented year of climate disasters and record-breaking weather extremes, from devastating wildfires to oppressive heat.
Just as ocean temperatures around the world soar off the charts due to planet-warming pollution, the temperature of the Mediterranean is well-above average, which scientists say fueled the storm’s heavy rainfall.
“The warmer water does not only fuel those storms in terms of rainfall intensity, it also makes them more ferocious,” Karsten Haustein, climate scientist and meteorologist at Leipzig University in Germany, told the Science Media Center.
Aerial view of flood water as a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hit Shahhat city, Libya, September 11, 2023. - Ali Al-Saadi/Reuters© Provided by CNN
Libya’s vulnerability to extreme weather is increased by its long-running political conflict, which has seen a decade-long power struggle between two rival administrations.
The UN-backed Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, sits in Tripoli in northwest Libya, while its eastern rival is controlled by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA), who support the eastern-based parliament led by Osama Hamad.
Derna, which lies some 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of Benghazi, falls under the control of Haftar and his eastern administration.
The country’s complex politics “pose challenges for developing risk communication and hazard assessment strategies, coordinating rescue operations, and also potentially for maintenance of critical infrastructure such as dams,” Leslie Mabon, lecturer in Environmental Systems at The Open University, told the Science Media Center.
Dams collapse
The collapse of two dams, which sent water rushing towards Derna, has caused catastrophic damage, authorities said Tuesday.
“Three bridges were destroyed. The flowing water carried away entire neighborhoods, eventually depositing them into the sea,” said Ahmed Mismari, spokesperson for the LNA.
Cars and rubble on a street in Derna, Libya, on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. - Libyan government/AP© Provided by CNN
Homes in valleys were washed away by strong muddy currents carrying vehicles and debris, said Aly, the Emergency and Ambulance authority spokesperson.
Phone lines in the city are down, complicating rescue efforts, with workers unable to enter Derna due to the heavy destruction, Aly told CNN.
Aly said authorities didn’t anticipate the scale of the disaster.
“The weather conditions were not studied well, the seawater levels and rainfall [were not studied], the wind speeds, there was no evacuation of families that could be in the path of the storm and in valleys,” he said.
“Libya was not prepared for a catastrophe like that. It has not witnessed that level of catastrophe before. We are admitting there were shortcomings even though this is the first time we face that level of catastrophe,” Aly told Al Hurra channel.
Settlements, vehicles and workplaces damaged after floods caused by heavy rains in Misrata, Libya on September 10, 2023. - Emhmmed Mohamed Kshiem/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
‘Unprecedented flooding’
The storm looks certain to be one of the deadliest on record in North Africa.
Libya is facing an “unprecedented” situation, said Hamad, the head of the eastern administration, according to a report from state news organization Libyan News Agency (LANA).
Mismari, the LNA spokesperson, said the floods have affected several cities, including Al-Bayda, Al-Marj, Tobruk, Takenis, Al-Bayada, and Battah, as well as the eastern coast all the way to Benghazi. At least 37 residential buildings were swept away into the seas.
A boy pulls a suitcase past debris in a flash-flood damaged area in Derna, eastern Libya, on September 11, 2023. - AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
“We are not prepared for such a scale of devastation,” Mismari said.
Libyan authorities need three types of specialized search groups including teams to recover bodies from rugged valleys after torrents dispersed them, teams to recover bodies from under the rubble, and teams to recover bodies from the sea, he added.
Tens of thousands of military personnel have been deployed, but many of the flood-stricken regions are still inaccessible to emergency workers, according to Mismari.
Several countries and human rights groups have offered aid as rescue teams scramble to find survivors under the debris and rubble.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the country faces “an unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” in the wake of the disaster.
Ciaran Donelly, IRC’s senior vice president for crisis response, said the challenges in Libya “are immense, with phone lines down and heavy destruction hampering rescue efforts.” He added that climate change has compounded the “steadily deteriorating” situation in the country after years of conflict and instability.
People inspect an area damaged by flash floods in Derna, in eastern Libya, on Monday. - -/AFP/AFP via Getty Images© Provided by CNN
Turkish aircraft delivering humanitarian aid have arrived in Libya, according to Turkey’s Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) on Tuesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country would send 168 search and rescue teams and humanitarian aid to Benghazi, according to state run news agency Anadoulu Agency on Tuesday.
Italy is sending a civil defense team to assist with rescue operations, the country’s Civil Protection Department said Tuesday.
People stand in a damaged road as a powerful storm and heavy rainfall flooded hit Shahhat city, Libya, September 11, 2023. - Omar Jarhman/Reuters© Provided by CNN
The US Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, announced that its special envoy, ambassador Richard Norland, had made an official declaration of humanitarian need.
This “will authorize initial funding that the United States will provide in support of relief efforts in Libya. We are coordinating with UN partners and Libyan authorities to assess how best to target official US assistance,” it posted on X (formally known as Twitter).
United Arab Emirates President, Zayed Al Nahyan, has directed to send aid and search and rescue teams while offering his condolences to those affected by the catastrophe, state news agency reported.
A damaged police car in Derna, Libya, on September 11, 2023. - Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi sent a military delegation, led by the Egypt’s Armed Forces’ chief of staff Osama Askar, whom arrived in Libya on Tuesday to coordinate the provision of logistical and humanitarian assistance.
The storm reached a peak in northeastern Libya on Monday, according to a statement from the World Meteorological Organization, citing Libya’s National Meteorological Centre.
Libya’s storm follows deadly flooding in many other parts of the globe including southern Europe and Hong Kong.
CNN’s Laura Paddison, Celine Alkhaldi, Barbie Nadeau, Sharon Braithwaite, Stephanie Halasz, Zahid Mahmood, Nadeen Ebrahim, Monica Sarbu and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed reporting
CNN news
More than 2,300 dead, thousands missing as floods devastate eastern Libya
At least 2,300 people were killed in Libya and thousands more were reported missing after catastrophic flash floods broke river dams and tore through an eastern coastal city, devastating entire neighbourhoods.
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
Paris (AFP) – Warmer seas, political chaos and inadequate infrastructure combined with devastating effect in the flooding that has killed more than 2,300 people in Libya, experts said on Tuesday.
Riverside buildings in the eastern Mediterranean coastal city of Derna collapsed after Storm Daniel brought heavy rainfall that broke river dams and engulfed entire neighbourhoods.
Daniel formed around September 4, bringing death and destruction to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey last week.
These Mediterranean storms which bear the features of tropical cyclones and hurricanes, known as "medicanes", only occur one to three times a year.
They need fluxes of heat and moisture, which are "enhanced by warm sea surface temperatures", noted Suzanne Gray, a professor at the meteorology department at the University of Reading in Britain.
The surface waters of the eastern Mediterranean and Atlantic are two to three degrees Celsius warmer than usual and are "likely to have caused rainfall to be more intense", said scientists taking part in a UK National Climate Impacts meeting.
But it is unclear if the persistent high-pressure blocking pattern that caused the heavy rainfall and flooding will become more common in the future, they said.
The last assessment report by the UN's scientific advisory panel on climate change, released earlier this year, concluded that a warming world increases the strength of medicanes even if they become less frequent, added Gray.
Most scientists are cautious about making direct links between individual weather events and long-term changes in the climate.
But Storm Daniel "is illustrative of the type of devastating flooding event we may expect increasingly in the future" as the world heats up, said Lizzie Kendon, a climate science professor at the University of Bristol.
The European Union's climate monitoring service Copernicus said rising global sea surface temperatures were driving record levels of heat across the globe, with 2023 likely to be the warmest in human history.
Oceans have absorbed 90 percent of the excess heat produced by human activity since the dawn of the industrial age, according to scientists.
A 'natural' disaster?
Some analysts believe the fragmented political scene in Libya -- torn apart by more than a decade of civil conflict following the fall of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 -- contributed to the devastation.
The North African country is divided between two rival governments: the UN-brokered, internationally recognised administration based in the capital Tripoli in the west, and a separate administration in the eastern region impacted by the flooding.
"There is no such thing as a natural disaster," argued Leslie Mabon, a lecturer in environmental systems at the UK-based Open University.
Although climate change can make extreme weather events more frequent and intense, social, political and economic factors determine who is at greatest risk, he said.
The loss of life was also a consequence of the limited nature of Libya's forecasting ability, warning and evacuation systems, said Kevin Collins, senior lecturer at the Open University.
Weaknesses in the planning and design standards for infrastructure and cities were also exposed, he added.
The UK National Climate Impacts scientists also noted that "infrastructure tipping points", such as extra strain on the dams, make extreme weather events deadlier and more destructive.
The political conditions in Libya "pose challenges for developing risk communication and hazard assessment strategies, coordinating rescue operations, and also potentially for maintenance of critical infrastructure such as dams", Mabon added.
At least 2,300 people were killed in Libya and thousands more were reported missing after catastrophic flash floods broke river dams and tore through an eastern coastal city, devastating entire neighbourhoods.
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
Libyan Red Crescent rescuers in the flood-hit town of al-Bayda.
© - / Libyan Red Crescent/AFP
By: NEWS WIRES
As global concern spread, multiple nations offered to urgently send aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred country that has been overwhelmed by what one UN official labelled "a calamity of epic proportions".
Massive destruction shattered the Mediterranean coastal city of Derna, home to about 100,000 people, where multi-storey buildings on the river banks collapsed and houses and cars vanished in the raging waters.
Libyan emergency services reported an initial death toll of more than 2,300 in Derna alone and said over 5,000 people remained missing while about 7,000 were injured.
"The situation in Derna is shocking and very dramatic," said Osama Ali of the Tripoli-based Rescue and Emergency Service. "We need more support to save lives because there are people still under the rubble and every minute counts."
The floods were caused by torrential rains from Storm Daniel, which made landfall in Libya on Sunday after earlier lashing Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Derna, 250 kilometres (150 miles) east of Benghazi, is ringed by hills and bisected by what is normally a dry riverbed in summer, but which has turned into a raging torrent of mud-brown water that also swept away several major bridges.
As global concern spread, multiple nations offered to urgently send aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred country that has been overwhelmed by what one UN official labelled "a calamity of epic proportions".
Massive destruction shattered the Mediterranean coastal city of Derna, home to about 100,000 people, where multi-storey buildings on the river banks collapsed and houses and cars vanished in the raging waters.
Libyan emergency services reported an initial death toll of more than 2,300 in Derna alone and said over 5,000 people remained missing while about 7,000 were injured.
"The situation in Derna is shocking and very dramatic," said Osama Ali of the Tripoli-based Rescue and Emergency Service. "We need more support to save lives because there are people still under the rubble and every minute counts."
The floods were caused by torrential rains from Storm Daniel, which made landfall in Libya on Sunday after earlier lashing Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Derna, 250 kilometres (150 miles) east of Benghazi, is ringed by hills and bisected by what is normally a dry riverbed in summer, but which has turned into a raging torrent of mud-brown water that also swept away several major bridges.
'The death toll is huge and might reach thousands,' warned Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
© - / Libyan Red Crescent/AFP
The number of dead given by the Libyan emergency service roughly matched the grim estimates provided by the Red Cross and by authorities in the eastern region, who have warned the death toll may yet rise further.
"The death toll is huge and might reach thousands," said Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, three of whose volunteers were also reported dead.
"We confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 persons so far," Ramadan told reporters via video link from neighbouring Tunisia.
Elsewhere in Libya's east, aid group the Norwegian Refugee Council said "entire villages have been overwhelmed by the floods and the death toll continues to rise".
"Communities across Libya have endured years of conflict, poverty and displacement. The latest disaster will exacerbate the situation for these people. Hospitals and shelters will be overstretched."
'Catastrophic' situation
Footage on Libyan TV showed dozens of bodies, wrapped in blankets or sheets, on Derna's main square, awaiting identification and burial, and more bodies in Martouba, a village about 30 kilometres to the southeast.
More than 300 victims were buried Monday, many in mass graves -- but vastly greater numbers of people were feared lost in the waters of the river that empties into the Mediterranean.
Oil-rich Libya is still recovering from the years of war and chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed popular uprising which toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
The North African country is divided between two rival governments -- the UN-brokered, internationally recognised administration based in Tripoli in the west, and a separate administration in the disaster-hit east.
The number of dead given by the Libyan emergency service roughly matched the grim estimates provided by the Red Cross and by authorities in the eastern region, who have warned the death toll may yet rise further.
"The death toll is huge and might reach thousands," said Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, three of whose volunteers were also reported dead.
"We confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 persons so far," Ramadan told reporters via video link from neighbouring Tunisia.
Elsewhere in Libya's east, aid group the Norwegian Refugee Council said "entire villages have been overwhelmed by the floods and the death toll continues to rise".
"Communities across Libya have endured years of conflict, poverty and displacement. The latest disaster will exacerbate the situation for these people. Hospitals and shelters will be overstretched."
'Catastrophic' situation
Footage on Libyan TV showed dozens of bodies, wrapped in blankets or sheets, on Derna's main square, awaiting identification and burial, and more bodies in Martouba, a village about 30 kilometres to the southeast.
More than 300 victims were buried Monday, many in mass graves -- but vastly greater numbers of people were feared lost in the waters of the river that empties into the Mediterranean.
Oil-rich Libya is still recovering from the years of war and chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed popular uprising which toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
The North African country is divided between two rival governments -- the UN-brokered, internationally recognised administration based in Tripoli in the west, and a separate administration in the disaster-hit east.
Torrential rains in Libya © Sophie RAMIS, Sylvie HUSSON / AFP
Access to the eastern region is limited. Phone and online links have been largely severed, but the administration's prime minister Oussama Hamad has reported "more than 2,000 dead and thousands missing" in Derna alone.
A Derna city council official described the situation as "catastrophic" and asked for a "national and international intervention", speaking to TV channel Libya al-Ahrar.
Rescue teams from Turkey have arrived in eastern Libya, according to authorities, and the UN and several countries offered to send aid, among them Algeria, Egypt, France, Italy, Qatar, Tunisia and the United States.
'Harrowing images'
The storm also hit Benghazi and the hill district of Jabal al-Akhdar. Flooding, mudslides and other major damage were reported from the wider region, with images showing overturned cars and trucks.
Libya's National Oil Corporation, which has its main fields and terminals in eastern Libya, declared "a state of maximum alert" and suspended flights between production sites where it said activity was drastically reduced.
Access to the eastern region is limited. Phone and online links have been largely severed, but the administration's prime minister Oussama Hamad has reported "more than 2,000 dead and thousands missing" in Derna alone.
A Derna city council official described the situation as "catastrophic" and asked for a "national and international intervention", speaking to TV channel Libya al-Ahrar.
Rescue teams from Turkey have arrived in eastern Libya, according to authorities, and the UN and several countries offered to send aid, among them Algeria, Egypt, France, Italy, Qatar, Tunisia and the United States.
'Harrowing images'
The storm also hit Benghazi and the hill district of Jabal al-Akhdar. Flooding, mudslides and other major damage were reported from the wider region, with images showing overturned cars and trucks.
Libya's National Oil Corporation, which has its main fields and terminals in eastern Libya, declared "a state of maximum alert" and suspended flights between production sites where it said activity was drastically reduced.
Flood damage in the eastern city of Derna where torrential rains caused a flashflood in a river that destroyed dams, bridges and buildings.
© - / The Press Office of Libyan Prime Minister/AFP/File
Libya's UN-brokered government under Abdelhamid Dbeibah announced three days of national mourning on Monday and emphasised "the unity of all Libyans".
Aid convoys from Tripoli were heading east and Dbeibah's government announced the dispatch of two ambulance planes and a helicopter, as well as rescue teams, canine search squads and 87 doctors, and technicians to restore power.
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote that Rome was "responding immediately to requests for support" with an assessment team on its way.
The United States embassy said it had "issued an official declaration of humanitarian need in response to the devastating floods in Libya".
European Council president Charles Michel, writing on X, formerly Twitter, noted the "harrowing images from Libya" and vowed the "EU stands ready to help those affected by this calamity".
(AFP)
Libya's UN-brokered government under Abdelhamid Dbeibah announced three days of national mourning on Monday and emphasised "the unity of all Libyans".
Aid convoys from Tripoli were heading east and Dbeibah's government announced the dispatch of two ambulance planes and a helicopter, as well as rescue teams, canine search squads and 87 doctors, and technicians to restore power.
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote that Rome was "responding immediately to requests for support" with an assessment team on its way.
The United States embassy said it had "issued an official declaration of humanitarian need in response to the devastating floods in Libya".
European Council president Charles Michel, writing on X, formerly Twitter, noted the "harrowing images from Libya" and vowed the "EU stands ready to help those affected by this calamity".
(AFP)
Warmer seas, political chaos drive Libya flood toll: experts
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
Paris (AFP) – Warmer seas, political chaos and inadequate infrastructure combined with devastating effect in the flooding that has killed more than 2,300 people in Libya, experts said on Tuesday.
Riverside buildings in the eastern Mediterranean coastal city of Derna collapsed after Storm Daniel brought heavy rainfall
Riverside buildings in the eastern Mediterranean coastal city of Derna collapsed after Storm Daniel brought heavy rainfall that broke river dams and engulfed entire neighbourhoods.
Daniel formed around September 4, bringing death and destruction to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey last week.
These Mediterranean storms which bear the features of tropical cyclones and hurricanes, known as "medicanes", only occur one to three times a year.
They need fluxes of heat and moisture, which are "enhanced by warm sea surface temperatures", noted Suzanne Gray, a professor at the meteorology department at the University of Reading in Britain.
The surface waters of the eastern Mediterranean and Atlantic are two to three degrees Celsius warmer than usual and are "likely to have caused rainfall to be more intense", said scientists taking part in a UK National Climate Impacts meeting.
But it is unclear if the persistent high-pressure blocking pattern that caused the heavy rainfall and flooding will become more common in the future, they said.
The last assessment report by the UN's scientific advisory panel on climate change, released earlier this year, concluded that a warming world increases the strength of medicanes even if they become less frequent, added Gray.
Most scientists are cautious about making direct links between individual weather events and long-term changes in the climate.
But Storm Daniel "is illustrative of the type of devastating flooding event we may expect increasingly in the future" as the world heats up, said Lizzie Kendon, a climate science professor at the University of Bristol.
The European Union's climate monitoring service Copernicus said rising global sea surface temperatures were driving record levels of heat across the globe, with 2023 likely to be the warmest in human history.
Oceans have absorbed 90 percent of the excess heat produced by human activity since the dawn of the industrial age, according to scientists.
A 'natural' disaster?
Some analysts believe the fragmented political scene in Libya -- torn apart by more than a decade of civil conflict following the fall of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 -- contributed to the devastation.
The North African country is divided between two rival governments: the UN-brokered, internationally recognised administration based in the capital Tripoli in the west, and a separate administration in the eastern region impacted by the flooding.
"There is no such thing as a natural disaster," argued Leslie Mabon, a lecturer in environmental systems at the UK-based Open University.
Although climate change can make extreme weather events more frequent and intense, social, political and economic factors determine who is at greatest risk, he said.
The loss of life was also a consequence of the limited nature of Libya's forecasting ability, warning and evacuation systems, said Kevin Collins, senior lecturer at the Open University.
Weaknesses in the planning and design standards for infrastructure and cities were also exposed, he added.
The UK National Climate Impacts scientists also noted that "infrastructure tipping points", such as extra strain on the dams, make extreme weather events deadlier and more destructive.
The political conditions in Libya "pose challenges for developing risk communication and hazard assessment strategies, coordinating rescue operations, and also potentially for maintenance of critical infrastructure such as dams", Mabon added.
Libya floods wipe out quarter of city, 10,000 feared missing
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
03:22
Video by:Delano D'SOUZA
At least 10,000 people were feared missing in Libya on Tuesday in floods caused by a huge storm, which burst dams, swept away buildings and wiped out as much as a quarter of the eastern city of Derna. More than 1,000 bodies had already been recovered in Derna alone, and officials expected the death toll would be much higher, after Storm Daniel barrelled across the Mediterranean into a country crumbling from more than a decade of conflict. FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza tells us more.
Video by:Delano D'SOUZA
At least 10,000 people were feared missing in Libya on Tuesday in floods caused by a huge storm, which burst dams, swept away buildings and wiped out as much as a quarter of the eastern city of Derna. More than 1,000 bodies had already been recovered in Derna alone, and officials expected the death toll would be much higher, after Storm Daniel barrelled across the Mediterranean into a country crumbling from more than a decade of conflict. FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza tells us more.
Libya floods: Global concern spread, multiple nations offer to send aid
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
01:49
At least 2,300 people were killed in Libya and thousands more were reported missing after catastrophic flash floods broke river dams and tore through an eastern coastal city, devastating entire neighbourhoods. As global concern spread, multiple nations offered to urgently send aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred country that has been overwhelmed by what one UN official labelled "a calamity of epic proportions".
At least 2,300 people were killed in Libya and thousands more were reported missing after catastrophic flash floods broke river dams and tore through an eastern coastal city, devastating entire neighbourhoods. As global concern spread, multiple nations offered to urgently send aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred country that has been overwhelmed by what one UN official labelled "a calamity of epic proportions".
At least 2,300 dead in Libya floods 'calamity', thousands missing
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
01:48
At least 2,300 people were killed in Libya and thousands more were reported missing after catastrophic flash floods broke river dams and tore through an eastern coastal city, devastating entire neighbourhoods. As global concern spread, multiple nations offered to urgently send aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred country that has been overwhelmed by what one UN official labelled "a calamity of epic proportions".
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
01:48At least 2,300 people were killed in Libya and thousands more were reported missing after catastrophic flash floods broke river dams and tore through an eastern coastal city, devastating entire neighbourhoods. As global concern spread, multiple nations offered to urgently send aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred country that has been overwhelmed by what one UN official labelled "a calamity of epic proportions".
NATO NATION BUILDING
Rival Libya govts 'completely neglected failing infrastructure' that succumbed to treacherous floods
Issued on: 12/09/2023
06:21
Video by:Nadia MASSIH
At least 10,000 people were feared missing or dead in Libya in floods caused by a huge storm that burst dams, swept away buildings and wiped out as much as a quarter of the eastern city of Derna. More than 1,000 bodies have already been recovered in Derna alone and officials expected the death toll would steadily rise, after Storm Daniel barrelled across the Mediterranean into a country divided and crumbling following a decade of conflict raging unabated since the fall of Gaddafi. For more analysis and perspective on the catastrophic floods unleashed on the fragile people of a crisis-ridden country engulfed in conflict, FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih is joined by Claudia Gazzini, International Crisis Group's Senior Analyst for Libya.
Video by:Nadia MASSIH
At least 10,000 people were feared missing or dead in Libya in floods caused by a huge storm that burst dams, swept away buildings and wiped out as much as a quarter of the eastern city of Derna. More than 1,000 bodies have already been recovered in Derna alone and officials expected the death toll would steadily rise, after Storm Daniel barrelled across the Mediterranean into a country divided and crumbling following a decade of conflict raging unabated since the fall of Gaddafi. For more analysis and perspective on the catastrophic floods unleashed on the fragile people of a crisis-ridden country engulfed in conflict, FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih is joined by Claudia Gazzini, International Crisis Group's Senior Analyst for Libya.
'Basic needs are huge' in Libya: IFRC is calling for 'long-term support to invest in infrastructure'
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
Emergency workers uncovered hundreds of bodies in the wreckage of Libya’s eastern city of Derna on Tuesday, and it was feared the toll could spiral with 10,000 people reported still missing after floodwaters smashed through dams and washed away entire neighborhoods of the city. For more on the startling death and devastation wreaked by Mediterranean storm Daniel and further exacerbated by a ruthless decade-old conflict, FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih is joined by Mey Al Sayegh, Head Of Communications at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - (IFRC).
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
08:12
Video by: Nadia MASSIH
Emergency workers uncovered hundreds of bodies in the wreckage of Libya’s eastern city of Derna on Tuesday, and it was feared the toll could spiral with 10,000 people reported still missing after floodwaters smashed through dams and washed away entire neighborhoods of the city. For more on the startling death and devastation wreaked by Mediterranean storm Daniel and further exacerbated by a ruthless decade-old conflict, FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih is joined by Mey Al Sayegh, Head Of Communications at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - (IFRC).
Libya floods: Turkey sending aid aircraft, rescue team
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
Issued on: 12/09/2023 -
02:26
Turkey is sending three aircraft to transport a rescue team and humanitarian aid to Libya, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, after a massive flood caused by heavy rain killed at least 2,000 people in the city of Derna. FRANCE 24's Jasper Mortimer reports from Ankara, Turkey.
Turkey is sending three aircraft to transport a rescue team and humanitarian aid to Libya, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, after a massive flood caused by heavy rain killed at least 2,000 people in the city of Derna. FRANCE 24's Jasper Mortimer reports from Ankara, Turkey.
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