Libya floods: at least 5,300 people dead as thousands more missing

The estimated death toll from Libya’s flooding has reached more than 5,300 and is likely to continue to rise, with thousands more people missing, according to authorities.

Storm Daniel swept in from the Mediterranean Sea to make landfall on Sunday. Derna, an eastern coastal city with a population of about 100,000 people, was worst affected by the resulting flooding after two dams collapsed. Large portions of the city were obliterated, according to eyewitnesses and satellite images.

A video taken at the time, and uploaded on social media, showed a deluge of water sweeping away cars and other vehicles. In the aftermath, survivors described collapsed buildings, destroyed neighbourhoods and mud throughout the streets. One video, which was not independently verified by The Irish Times, shows dozens of bodies, wrapped in blankets, lined up along roads, as people walk from one to the other trying to identify them.

According to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), at least 30,000 people are displaced in Derna, with another 3,000 in Al-Bayda and 1,000 in Almkheley.

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International aid has started to arrive. The UK has announced an initial package of assistance worth up to €1.16 million.

In a press release on Wednesday, the European Commission said it had released €500,000 of emergency funding, while EU member states – among them Germany, Romania and Finland – have offered material assistance including generators, hospital tents and water tanks. Italy – Libya’s former colonial power – said it was sending a team of personnel, including firefighters.

Commenting on X, formerly Twitter, US president Joe Biden said: “We join the Libyan people in grieving the loss of too many lives cut short, and send our hope to all those missing loved ones.” Mr Biden said the US is giving funds to relief organisations and is co-ordinating with the Libyan authorities and the UN to provide additional support.

Two plane loads of aid arrived from the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey and Qatar were also among countries reportedly preparing to send planes.

“This tragedy underscores the urgent need for international attention and assistance as well as for climate action,” said Ciarán Donnelly, senior vice-president for crisis response, recovery and development at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an international humanitarian organisation that works in Libya.

“The situation in Libya has been steadily deteriorating due to years of conflict and instability, compounded by the impacts of climate change. Globally, climate change has made these extreme weather events more frequent and intense, making it even harder for communities to cope and rebuild, especially in conflict-affected regions.”

[ Libya flooding: Before-and-after images reveal scale of disaster ]

Since 2011, when long-time dictator Muammar Gadafy was ousted, Libya has in effect been a failed state, divided up between militias and rival governments. Derna was a site of conflict: at one point it was held by the Islamic State.

In the wake of this week’s tragedy, anger is growing among civil society actors and activists, who say the domestic situation contributed hugely to the mounting death toll. “Storm Daniel is a natural disaster. The ensuing tragedy in Libya is not just that,” tweeted Elham Saudi, the director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya, a non-governmental organisation fighting for human rights in the country.

“It is man-made: corruption; lack of infrastructure; impunity; shutting down frontliners in civil society. Please support those suffering and be angry at a system that has enabled this tragedy.”