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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 100,000 people, where multi-storey buildings on the river banks collapsed and houses and cars vanished in the raging waters. Libyan emergency services on the ground reported an initial death toll of more than 2,300 in Derna alone and said more than 5,000 people remained missing while about 7,000 were injured. People are stuck on a road as a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hit Shahhat city, Libya, September 11, 2023. Photo by Reuters "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 … [Read more...] about At least 2,300 dead in ‘epic’ Libya floods, thousands more missing

Swathes of the Mediterranean city were obliterated by a torrent of water unleashed by a powerful storm that swept down a usually dry riverbed on Sunday night, bursting dams above the city. Multi-story buildings collapsed with sleeping families inside. Officials have put the number of missing at 10,000. The U.N. aid agency OCHA said the figure was at least 5,000. Usama Al Husadi, a 52-year-old driver, has been searching for his wife and five children since the disaster. "I went by foot searching for them ... I went to all hospitals and schools but no luck," he told Reuters, weeping with his head in his hands. Husadi, who had been working the night of the storm, dialed his wife's phone number once again. It was switched off. "We lost at least 50 members from my father’s family, between missing and dead," he said. The beach was littered with clothes, toys, furniture, shoes and other possessions swept out of homes by the torrent. Streets were covered in deep mud and strewn with … [Read more...] about Catastrophic Libya flood kills thousands, desperate relatives search for survivors

The enormous surge of stormwater burst two upstream dams late Sunday and reduced the city of Derna to an apocalyptic wasteland where entire city blocks and untold numbers of people were washed into the Mediterranean. "Within seconds the water level suddenly rose," recounted one injured survivor who said he was swept away with his mother in the late-night ordeal before they both managed to cling onto and scramble into an empty building downstream. "The water was rising with us until we got to the fourth floor, the water was up to the second floor," the unidentified man said from his hospital bed, in testimony published by the Benghazi Medical Center. "We could hear screams. From the window, I saw cars and bodies being carried away by the water. It lasted an hour or an hour and a half -- but for us, it felt like a year." Hundreds of body bags now line Derna's mud-caked streets, awaiting mass burials, as traumatized and grieving residents search mangled buildings for missing loved … [Read more...] about Global aid effort intensifies for flood-stricken Libya

Emergency teams on Friday kept up their search for the thousands still posted as missing from the tsunami-sized flash flood that swept the Libyan port city of Derna, killing at least 4,000 people. The enormous surge of water burst two upstream dams late Sunday and reduced Derna to an apocalyptic wasteland where entire city blocks and untold numbers of people were washed into the Mediterranean. An AFP photographer said central neighbourhoods on either side of the river, which normally dries up at this time of year, looked as if a steam roller had passed through, uprooting trees and buildings and hurling vehicles onto the port's breakwaters. "Within seconds the water level suddenly rose," recounted one injured survivor who said he was swept away with his mother in the late-night ordeal before they both managed to scramble into an empty building downstream. "The water was rising with us until we got to the fourth floor, the water was up to the second floor," the unidentified … [Read more...] about Survivors in Libyan port city of Derna search for missing loved ones

DERNA, Libya -- Libyan authorities demanded an investigation on Thursday into whether human failings were to blame for thousands of deaths in the worst natural disaster in the country's modern history, as survivors searched for loved ones washed away by floods. A torrent unleashed by a powerful storm burst dams on Sunday night and hurtled down a seasonal riverbed that bisects the eastern city of Derna, washing multi-storey buildings into the sea with sleeping families inside. Confirmed death tolls given by officials have varied. All are in the thousands, with thousands more on lists of the missing. Derna Mayor Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi said deaths in the city could already reach 18,000-20,000, based on the extent of the damage. He told Reuters he was afraid the city would now be infected with an epidemic, "due to the large number of bodies under the rubble and in the water". Rescue workers carry a dead body amidst rescue operations in the aftermath of the floods in … [Read more...] about Libya floods: search for blame for thousands of deaths

A week after a wall of water rushed through the Libyan coastal city of Derna, sweeping thousands to their deaths, the focus turned Sunday to caring for survivors of the disaster. Estimates of the number of lives lost vary widely. The most recent official death toll, from the health minister of the eastern-based administration, Othman Abdeljalil, is that 3,166 people were killed. But according to a United Nations report released on Sunday, the toll from Derna alone has risen to 11,300. Citing the Libyan Red Crescent, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs added that another 10,100 people were still missing in the devastated city. "These figures are expected to rise in the coming days and weeks as search-and-rescue crews work tirelessly to find survivors," the OCHA report said. Aid is now arriving in the North African country as the world mobilises to help emergency services cope with the aftermath of the deadly flood. At least 40,000 people have been … [Read more...] about Aid arrives in flood-hit Libya as Derna death toll estimated at 11,300

People whose homes were swept away by flooding in Libya's eastern city of Derna a week ago faced the dilemma on Sunday of whether to stay and risk infection or flee through areas where landmines have been displaced by the torrents. Thousands of people were killed after two dams above Derna broke on Sept. 10 during a powerful storm, bringing down residential blocks lining a usually dry riverbed as people slept. Many bodies have been washed out to sea. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Saturday cited a death toll of 11,300 from the Libyan Red Crescent. However, a spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent appeared to cast doubt on that, saying "figures are changing and the Red Crescent is not responsible for this." OCHA spokesperson Eri Kaneko said it was difficult to get exact casualty figures as the search for bodies and survivors continues, and said the World Health Organization (WHO) had so far confirmed 3,922 deaths. The health … [Read more...] about Libyan flood survivors weigh water shortages against landmine risk