Libya: 150 dead in floods after torrential rains

September 12, 2023

Floods caused by heavy rains have killed at least 150 people in eastern Libya, hit in turn by storm Daniel after Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, an official source said on Monday.

Speaking on the Almasar channel, the head of the executive in eastern Libya, Osama Hamad, put forward the figures of “more than 2,000 dead and thousands missing” in the city of Derna alone, but no source medical or emergency services have not confirmed this report.

If the eastern Libyan media widely reported Mr. Hamad’s statements, the separate reports they reported from different localities were much lower than the figures he put forward.

“At least 150 people were killed due to flooding caused by storm Daniel in Derna, the Jabal Al-Akhdar regions and the suburbs of Al-Marj,” Mohamed Massoud, gatekeeper, previously told AFP. – speech of the head of the eastern executive.

Described by experts as an “extreme” phenomenon in terms of the amount of water that fell, Storm Daniel has already caused at least 27 deaths in recent days in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.

Daniel hit eastern Libya on Sunday afternoon, notably the coastal towns of Jabal al-Akhdar (north-east) but also Benghazi where a curfew was declared and schools closed.

The east of the country is home to the main oil fields and terminals. The National Oil Company (NOC) has declared a “state of maximum alert” and “suspended flights” between production sites where activity has been drastically reduced.

Rescue teams were dispatched Sunday to Derna, a town 900 km east of Tripoli and 300 km east of Benghazi that was partially destroyed during violent clashes in 2018 between the forces of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, strongman from eastern Libya, and radical Islamist groups who controlled the city.

With a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants, the coastal town is crossed by a wadi which flows into the Mediterranean and which overflowed because of the storm about fifty meters on each side, carrying away buildings and houses in its path, according to videos broadcast by the media.

Earlier on Monday, before heading there with his ministers, Mr. Hamad declared Derna a “disaster city”. Hundreds of residents are still stranded in areas that are difficult to access while rescue teams, supported by the army, try to help them.

Authorities in eastern Libya “lost contact with nine soldiers during rescue operations in this town”, according to Mr. Massoud.

Images filmed by residents of eastern towns like Derna, al-Bayda and small towns show impressive mudslides and entire neighborhoods underwater, as well as collapsed roads and buildings.

A Derna municipal council official described the situation in his town as “catastrophic”, “out of control” and requiring “national and international intervention”, in statements to local channel Libya al-Ahrar.

On Monday, Presidential Council (PC) head Mohamad al-Manfi called for “help from brotherly and friendly countries and international organizations” and officially declared the eastern towns of Derna, Shahat and al-Bayda Libya a “disaster zone”, according to a statement on Facebook.

He reported the collapse of four main bridges and two buildings as well as the city’s two dams.

Boasting the most abundant oil reserves in Africa, Libya has been plunged into chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011 and shaken by divisions and violence.

For a year and a half, two governments have been competing for power there: that of Abdelhamid Dbeibah in the West, recognized by the UN, and that appointed by Parliament and supported by Marshal Haftar.

During an extraordinary council of ministers broadcast live on television on Monday, Mr. Dbeibah announced “three days of national mourning”, emphasizing “the unity of all Libyans” in the face of this catastrophe.

The UN mission in Libya said it was “closely monitoring the emergency situation”, and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “solidarity with the Libyan people”.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also expressed his “sympathy and condolences” and said Washington was working with the United Nations and Libyan authorities to help with relief efforts.