Storm Daniel, which struck northeastern Libya during the night from Sunday to Monday, left behind enormous damage and left more than 3,800 dead. The town of Derna, the most affected by the floods caused by Danielis unrecognizable.
Collapsed houses, flooded streets, submerged cars and thousands of missing people: in Derna, a coastal town of 100,000 inhabitants, the scale of the disaster is visible from space, thanks to satellite images from the American company Maxar Technologies.
To the north of the city is the Wadi Derna, a river which rises in the region of Jebel Akhdar (“green mountain” in Arabic) and flows into the Mediterranean. The wadi is largely the cause of flooding in the heart of the city.
During the passage of Daniel, the embankment dams which held back the waters of the river gave way, causing immense damage on both sides of its bed. The Derna wadi runs through the city from north to south, splitting it in two.
West of Wadi Derna, the town is unrecognizable. According to data compiled by the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS), the vast majority of residences in the city were damaged or completely destroyed. As of September 13, there were more than 3,900 residences affected by the floods.
The Emilia Tourist Resort hotel, located a few kilometers west of the city, is visible in this image. Its facilities were heavily damaged, while surrounding residences were completely destroyed, according to Copernicus data.
With Agence France-Presse