The intense rains that accompanied the storm caused the flooding of several towns, such as Derna, in the northeast of the country.
Roads cut, bridges collapsed, landslides… Libya is still in shock after the passage of Storm Daniel on Sunday September 10, which caused devastating floods. Derna, a coastal town in the northeast of the country, was hardest hit by the disaster, with two nearby dams bursting under the pressure of the water. Of its 100,000 inhabitants, 30,000 had to be displaced, announced the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Wednesday September 13.
>> Floods in Libya: why was storm Daniel so deadly?
Satellite images taken on September 12 by the European Space Agency and the Copernicus program show that the Libyan desert south of Derna and Shahhat was also particularly affected by the floods. By recovering data from Sentinel-3 satellites, it is possible to carry out calculations to analyze the presence of water. The indicator used is called the “Normalized Difference Water Index” (NDWI), which notably uses infrared measurements.
In Derna, the entrances are almost all cut off, which hampers the task of rescuers. There are only two access points left in the south, compared to the usual seven, according to AFP. “We need a lot of logistics to repair the access points. We will surely have to go by sea”, explains Patrick Haimzadeh, former diplomat and Libya specialist, to franceinfo. Added to this are widespread power outages and disruptions to the telecommunications network. At least 3,840 deaths have been recorded so far in this locality, according to a latest report from the Eastern government, Wednesday. Thousands of people are still missing. But the authorities and the Red Cross fear a much heavier toll.
Bodies began to be washed up into the sea on Tuesday, which turned brown like mud, as shown in the image above. In the country and abroad, there is strong mobilization to help the victims, even if help is still arriving in trickles. The European Commission announced on Wednesday the sending of aid from Germany, Romania and Finland to Derna. The European Union has also released an initial envelope of 500,000 euros to meet the most urgent needs of Libyans. For its part, France has chartered a plane carrying around forty rescuers and several tons of medical equipmentincluding a field hospital. A second Civil Security plane will take off Thursday early in the afternoon from the Istres air base (Bouches-du-Rhône) towards Derna, franceinfo learned from the organization. Turkey, Jordan, Italy and Egypt have also provided assistance.
In Derna, bridges have been swept away by water and entire neighborhoods are submerged. But this city is far from the only one to have been affected by the floods. The head of the Presidential Council also officially declared the towns of Shahhat and al-Bayda, in eastern Libya, “disaster zone”.
Storm Daniel reached the eastern coast of Libya during the day on Sunday, hitting the metropolis of Benghazi before heading east towards the towns of Jabal al-Akhdar (north-east), such as Shahhat, al- Marj, al-Bayda and Soussa, all extremely affected by flooding.