LIBYA: DEADLY FLOODS/ HUNDREDS OF DEAD AND ABOUT 10,000 DISAPPEARED AFTER HEAVY RAINS FELL ON SUNDAY IN EASTERN COUNTRY

The eastern part of Libya was hit by unusually intense rainfall on Sunday 10 September, causing floods that ravaged everything in their path. While the emergency services are still searching for missing persons following this natural disaster, concerns about the human toll are growing. The Red Cross estimates the number of victims to be in the thousands, following the destruction of the town of Derna after two dams broke under the pressure of the waters.

Dubbed Storm Daniel, this roar of nature has left apocalyptic devastation in eastern Libya, according to media reports.

On Tuesday 12 September, the Red Cross warned of the «enormous» number of victims following the flooding that occurred on Sunday after the torrential rains. «We don’t have any definitive figures » for the moment, but « the number of missing is close to 10,000» said Tamer Ramadan, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), during the UN’s regular press briefing in Geneva.

Figures published earlier on Tuesday by Libyan Red Crescent medical sources put the death toll at 3,000 and the number of missing at around 9,000, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported, specifying that they had died from drowning or the collapse of residential buildings.

Around 7,000 families remain trapped in the affected areas and rescue operations are under way to evacuate them, the source said. The Libyan Red Crescent lost four of its employees while taking part in rescue operations.

The city of Derna, on the north-eastern coast of the country, was the worst hit, with 2,000 dead, according to initial figures, which have not yet been confirmed. The city of 10,000 inhabitants was completely engulfed by water and huge mudslides, before flowing into the Mediterranean.

Although there is no definitive assessment of this tragedy at present, the images published by the media and on social networks confirm the scale of the tragedy. The waters swept away four bridges and several buildings.

«Entire districts of Derna have disappeared and their inhabitants have been swept away by the waters following the collapse of two ageing dams, making the situation catastrophic and uncontrollable» deplored the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), a UN agency.