Libya floods live: Dam collapse ‘tsunami’ sees 10,000 feared dead as rescuers search for survivors

In Northeastern Libya two dams collapsed due to heavy rainfall caused by Storm Daniel, inundating regions already battered by heavy rainfall.

This relentless rainfall was a consequence of the remnants of a powerful low-pressure system, officially named Storm Daniel by the national meteorological organisations of southeastern Europe.

Libya’s National Meteorological Center said on Tuesday it issued early warnings for Daniel, an “extreme weather event,” 72 hours before its occurrence, and notified all governmental authorities by e-mails and through media … “urging them to take preventive measures.”

It said that Bayda, the second most impacted town after Derna, saw a record 414.1 millimetres (16.3 inches) of rain from Sunday to Monday.

However, lack of preparedness and poor infrastructure as a result of years of conflict and chaos led to the dams near Derna crumbling, making this event the worst recorded disaster of 2023 so far.

Aid workers trying to get help for Libya say the situation in the country remains devastating and the death toll could rise a lot higher than what it is currently.

Over 40,000 people have been displaced in the country, Tamer Ramadan, Libya envoy for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told a UN briefing in Geneva via videoconference from Tunisia.

He said the situation in Libya is “as devastating as the situation in Morocco,” referring to the deadly earthquake that hit near the city of Marrakech on Friday night.

Emergency workers have recovered more than 1,500 bodies from the wreckage of Libya’s eastern city of Derna after the worst climate disaster of 2023 so far.

Officials say more than 10,000 people remain missing and it is feared the toll could surpass 5,000.

Torrential rains brought by Storm Daniel appear to have overwhelmed multiple dams and sent a river “tsunami” through the city, washing away entire neighbourhoods and sweeping people out to sea.

At least one official put the death toll at more than 5,000 but it remains conflicted as authorities struggle to assess the full extent of loss in the conflict-stricken country.

The state-run news agency quoted Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesman for the east Libya interior ministry, as saying that more than 5,300 people had died in Derna alone. Derna’s ambulance authority said earlier on Tuesday that 2,300 had died.

But the toll is likely to be higher, said Tamer Ramadan, Libya envoy for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.