But watching them does prepare you for the scale of the damage the floods have done to this place. The line of the river now gapes like an open wound, perhaps a hundred metres across in places. On these mounds of mud, nothing at all remains. It's a barren wasteland.

State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, CanadaZip Code

Read: Photos from Libya’s devastating floodsDerna has become an emblem of ills that afflict many of Libya’s 7 million inhabitants: infrastructural decay, economic neglect, unpreparedness for global warming. Derna’s officials and Haftar’s military authority reportedly issued contradictory instructions as the storm approached: Some advised an evacuation and others ordered a curfew. But Haftar’s style of rule—kleptocratic, authoritarian, extractive—has made for poor stewardship of eastern Libya’s infrastructure and natural environment, leaving other communities vulnerable to climate-induced extreme weather events as well. The authority has taken control of eastern Libya’s agriculture, energy, and construction, with dire consequences for the environment. Those that hit the eastern city of Al-Bayda in late 2020 displaced thousands of people.

VALLETTA : A Maltese rescue team found hundreds of dead bodies on a beach in the flood-stricken Libyan city of Derna on Friday, the Malta Civil Protection Department said on Saturday. "There were probably about 400, but it is difficult to say," Natalino Bezzina, who is leading the Maltese team, told the Times of Malta newspaper. Malta deployed a team of 72 rescuers from the army and the civil protection department on Wednesday. Bezzina told Maltese media that a small CPD team came across the cave that was half submerged and found bodies inside. Then they came across a small bay filled with debris and several hundred dead bodies.

DERNA, Libya – Aid groups are warning of a growing risk of disease in the wake of deadly flooding that hit eastern Libya on Sept 10. Hopes are meanwhile dwindling of finding more survivors after torrential rain triggered by a hurricane-strength storm hit the area. The flood submerged the port city of Derna, washing thousands of people and homes out to sea. “This is a disaster of epic proportions,” said Mr Ahmed Zouiten, the WHO’s representative in Libya. Islamic Relief warned of a second humanitarian crisis after the flood, pointing to the growing risk of waterborne diseases and shortages of food, shelter and medicine.

An aerial view shows the destruction, in the aftermath of the floods in Derna, Libya September 16. The state knew of this well, whether through experts in the Public Water Commission or the foreign companies that came to assess the dam," he said. In his report, hydrologist Ashour cites an unpublished 2006 study from the Water Resources Ministry on "the danger of the situation." The Turkish company, Arsel, lists a project on its website to repair the Derna dams as having begun in 2007 and been completed in 2012. Even as the catastrophe was unfolding on Sunday night, the Water Resources Ministry issued a post on its Facebook page telling residents not to worry.

The BBC and the rest of Britain’s establishment media have been firing out these terms like bullets from a machine gun. But what the BBC and the rest of the Western media have carefully avoided mentioning is why. Slave marketsThe self-congratulatory mood among Britain’s political and media class, burnishing the West’s “humanitarian” credentials, was evident across the media. As Declassified reported, after biding their time British oil giants BP and Shell returned to Libya’s oilfields last year. But with the help of Western media like the BBC, the reasons for their misery remain as murky as the flood waters.

People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. Search teams are combing streets, wrecked buildings, and even the sea to look for bodies in Derna, where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed thousands of people. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. People search for flood victims in Derna, Libya, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.

Storm Daniel was Greece's worst storm in recorded history but for Libya it would trigger a disaster of unimaginable scale. Facebook Facebook , which may be using cookies and other technologies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Facebook cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Facebook cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Facebook cookies for this session only.

"Bodies are littering the streets, washing back on shore and are buried under collapsed buildings and debris. Mohammad al-Qabisi, head of Derna's Wahda Hospital, said a field hospital was treating people with chronic illnesses needing regular attention. "There are still bodies underground ... Now there are corpses starting to smell." The ICRC sent a cargo flight to Benghazi, eastern Libya's largest city, on Friday with 5,000 body bags. "I've heard from my team that there are mass graves where rescue workers were appealing: 'Don't bring us food, don’t bring us water, bring us body bags'," the NRC's Ahmed Bayram said.

It had been clear for years that the dams protecting Derna, on Libya’s Mediterranean coast, were in danger of giving way. Torrential rains were not new. Decade after decade, they had pounded the area, washing away the soil that helped soak up water as it ran down from the dry hills above town. Climate change had also changed the land, making it drier, harder and increasingly shorn of vegetation, less able to absorb the water before it pooled up dangerously behind the dams. Then, there were the decades of neglect by officials — who knew the dams needed repairs — in a country so torn by years of civil war that it still has two opposing governments: one in the west and another in the east, where Derna lies.

Libyan authorities said an investigation into the collapse of two dams on Sunday has begun after flooding brought about by heavy rain killed more than 11,000 people. The UN has launched an appeal for US$71 million to assist the hundreds of thousands in need in Libya. The UK on Saturday announced it was ramping up support for Libya including more money and an emergency medical team. The team, led by health and sanitation experts from NGO UK-Med, will conduct rapid medical assessments in disaster-affected areas. The unit will coordinate with local authorities, international organisations and other partners on the ground.

DERNA, Libya — Locals now call Wadi Derna “the dam of death.”In a moment’s notice, the structure unleashed tens of millions of cubic meters of floodwater on Derna’s residents. The torrents swept generational homes and entire families into the Mediterranean sea — leaving onlooking survivors in a state of shock and horror. A road that connected the valley is now shredded — the two sides of asphalt reaching over the edge to each other. “We will never forget what happened here,” says Safwat Ashraf, a 24-year-old teacher. Safwat says he heard women and children screaming who had sought shelter in the school.

STORY: This is a mass grave on the outskirts of the devastated Libyan city of Derna. Residents and rescue workers are struggling to cope with the thousands of corpses washing up or decaying under rubble.......after the city was obliterated when the dams above the city broke. The flood swept down a usually dry riverbed. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which has a team of 100 in Libya, said dead body management was the most pressing concern. The International Organization for Migration mission in Libya said more than 5,000 were presumed dead and tens of thousands were displaced.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, says that 42 Syrians have been confirmed dead in Libya while the real number could be as high as 150. As the storm pounded Derna late Sunday, residents said they heard loud explosions when the dams outside the city collapsed. Still, for some Syrians, Libya offered prospects of a better life. Syrians can easily get into Libya on a tourist visa and find work — wages are higher than what many earn at home. Firas Qalaji, 45, his wife Rana Khateeb and their six children were to be buried in Libya, the family said in a statement.