1 of 2 | Storm Daniel wreaks havoc in northeastern Libya, resulting in numerous casualties. The Libyan Red Crescent teams and volunteers were at the forefront, swiftly evacuating and providing first aid, search, and rescue efforts. Image source: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies/Facebook.
Sept. 12 (UPI) — The devastating flooding in Libya caused by heavy rains has resulted in a death toll surpassing 5,000 individuals, as two dams collapsed.
Libya, where two rival governments are in conflict, witnessed the loss of at least 5,200 lives in the city of Derna alone, which is home to approximately 100,000 people. This information was reported by a Libyan broadcaster and cited by The New York Times.
The Guardian, referring to Libyan state media, reported that the death toll has now surpassed 5,300, according to Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesperson for the eastern Libyan government.
The bodies of many victims have been swept out to sea, while hundreds remain unidentified and piled in cemeteries. The death toll is expected to exceed 10,000 people, as stated by Tarek al-Kharraz, a spokesperson for the eastern Libyan government.
“There were corpses next to me, and corpses above me, and corpses beneath me,” expressed Sondos Shuwaib, a local blogger, in an online post highlighted by The Guardian.
Anas El-Gomati, the director of the Libyan policy research center Sadeq Institute, informed The Times that Libyan authorities failed to adequately monitor the dams or issue evacuation warnings, even after Storm Daniel had caused more than a dozen deaths in Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria the previous week.
“We attribute this disaster not to Mother Nature, but to the incompetence of Libya’s political elites,” stated El-Gomati. “One cannot find words to describe the biblical level of suffering that these people have had to endure.”
El-Gomati also shared with The Guardian that an investigation is necessary due to “corruption and incompetence” preceding the disaster.
“While in Morocco you may have seconds or minutes between the movement of tectonic plates, in Libya there was ample warning about this hurricane,” El-Gomati remarked. “Yet, Derna was not evacuated, and now a quarter of the city’s population is submerged.”
In a televised news conference on Monday, Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesperson for the Libyan National Army, acknowledged that the torrential rains and resulting floods were unprecedented for the country. The Libyan National Army holds a dominant position in the area affected.
Al-Mismari described the disaster as “completely unexpected” and pointed out that the condition of the roads is hampering search and rescue operations.
President Joe Biden expressed his and his wife’s deepest condolences to Libya in a statement, committing to provide emergency funding to relief organizations and coordinating with Libyan authorities and the United Nations for additional support.
Biden said, “Jill and I send our deepest condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones in the devastating floods in Libya. In this difficult hour, the United States is sending emergency funds to relief organizations and coordinating with the Libyan authorities and the UN to provide additional support. We join the Libyan people in grieving the loss of too many lives cut short and send our hope to all those missing loved ones.”
