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Thousands Killed In Libya Flooding

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

TRIPOLI (Worthy News) – Thousands of people died, and at least 10,000 residents remained missing after a Mediterranean storm dumped torrential rain on Libya’s coast, setting off massive flooding, authorities said Tuesday.

Eastern Libya officials estimated the death toll late Tuesday at above 5,000 as Storm Daniel devastated areas, especially in and around Derna, an eastern coastal city of some 125,000.

Witnesses saw wrecked neighborhoods, their buildings washed out, and cars flipped on their roofs in streets covered in mud and rubble after dams burst.

Emergency workers said Tuesday they had uncovered more than 1,500 bodies between the ruins of Derna, where floodwaters smashed through dams and washed away entire neighborhoods.

Footage showed dozens of bodies covered by blankets in the yard of one hospital, while another image revealed a piling mass grave.

An official from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said Tuesday that many are missing in Libya’s flooding.

10,000 MISSING

“We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far,” added Tamer Ramadan, the head of the IFRC delegation in Libya.

The massive death and devastation wreaked by the Mediterranean storm Daniel underscored the storm’s intensity and the vulnerability of a nation torn by armed conflict for over a decade.

Officials said the floods are the most fatal environmental disaster in the country’s modern history. Yet, years of war and lack of a central government have left Libya with crumbling infrastructure vulnerable to heavy rains.

Libya is divided by rival governments, one in the east, the other in the west, and beset by militia fighting since the NATO-military alliance backed the Arab Spring revolt that toppled autocratic ruler Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

That had complicated relief efforts, including in Derna, which saw the most destruction, as large swaths of riverside buildings vanished, washed away after two dams burst.

Amid these tensions, help was only starting to reach Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the disaster struck, reporters noticed. It comes as North Africa already deals with thousands killed in the earthquake in Morocco.