DERNA, Libya – Mediterranean Storm Daniel destroyed a quarter of a city in eastern Libya, causing devastating floods and potentially leaving up to 3,000 dead.
Libya’s Red Crescent aid group said they are working to search for survivors as agency officials estimate the grim number of deaths as of Tuesday, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The latest confirmed dead stands at 2,084, Red Crescent spokesperson Tawfiq al-Shukri said with another 9,000 missing and 20,000 displaced. On Tuesday, a plane carrying search and rescue teams and survival supplies from Turkey arrived in Libya, according to Al Jazeera reports.
Extensive damage along the banks of the Wadi Darnah River in Derna was captured in social media footage.
Many of the missing are in the area where the destruction appeared to be the greatest in Derna after two upstream dams burst and carried them away with water, the Associated Press reports. Essam Abu Zeriba, the interior minister of the east Libyan government, described the situation as tragic during a phone interview with the Saudi-owned satellite news channel Al-Arabiya. He pleaded with local and international agencies for aid in the disaster zone.
Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the head of Libya’s Tripoli-based unity government, declared three days of national mourning Monday for the victims of deadly floods that ravaged the North African country. This comes as the U.S. Embassy in Libya said they issued an official declaration of humanitarian need in response to the devastating floods.
“The declaration of humanitarian need will authorize initial funding that the U.S. will provide in support of relief efforts in Libya,” Special Envoy Ambassador Richard Norland said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We are coordinating with UN partners and Libyan authorities to assess how best to target official U.S. assistance.”
MEDITERRANEAN STORM DANIEL CAUSES WIDESPREAD FLOODING IN LIBYA WHERE THOUSANDS ARE FEARED DEAD
Othman Abduljaleel, the health minister in Libya’s eastern government, said the situation is “catastrophic.”
“The bodies are still lying on the ground in many parts (of the city),” he said in a recent report from the AP. “Hospitals are filled with bodies. And there are areas we have yet to reach.”
Authorities said they couldn’t reach thousands of residents in Derna due to impassable, heavily damaged and flooded roads, Al Jazeera’s reporter Malik Traina said.
“Aid has been able to reach other towns that have been affected. A flight with aid has just landed in Misrata. Assistance is coming in from countries such as Qatar, Egypt, and others,” Traina added.
Minister of Civil Aviation Hichem Chkiouat reported that 25% of Derna was destroyed during his visit, Al Jazeera reports.
Over the past week, an unusually strong weather system has brought heavy rain to the Mediterranean and North Africa. The downpour was particularly intense in Greece, described as being of “biblical proportions,” and has resulted in at least 14 deaths across Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Satellite data shows Daniel swept across Greece and Turkey beginning on Sept. 4, bringing flooding rains before moving across the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend and making landfall between Benghazi and Derna early Monday.
Daniel, also known as Cyclone Daniel or Medicane Daniel, now has the characteristics of a tropical depression as it moves toward the northwest desert of Egypt. The primary concern there on Monday will be intense winds and thunderstorms.