Latest From Libya Floods: Over 5,000 People Presumed Dead And Many Missing, Here's What You Need To Know

After heavy rains in northeastern Libya forced two dams to fail, dumping additional water into already flooded communities, more than 5,000 people are thought dead, and 10,000 are still missing.

The number of people who are still unaccounted for was provided to the media during a briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday by Tamer Ramadan, the delegation's leader from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Libya. She declared, "The death toll is enormous."

According to the interior ministry of Libya's eastern authorities on Tuesday, at least 5,300 individuals are believed to have been killed. At least 145 of those slain were Egyptians, according to officials in Tobruk, a city in northeastern Libya.

Thousands Of People Presumed Dead In Libya

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Othman Abduljalil, the health minister in the eastern government of Libya, told Libya's Almasar TV that as many as 6,000 people are still missing in the eastern city of Derna, which has experienced the worst destruction. When he toured the city on Monday, he described the situation as "catastrophic."

According to authorities, entire neighbourhoods are thought to have been wiped away throughout the city. As per Osama Aly, a spokesperson for the emergency and ambulance services, hospitals in Derna are no longer operational, and the mortuaries are packed.

He informed CNN that dead bodies had been dumped on the pavement in front of mortuaries.

First-hand emergency services are unavailable. People are currently labouring to gather the decaying bodies, according to doctor Anas Barghathy, who is currently volunteering in Derna. After watching videos of the flooding and hearing nothing from their loved ones who lived in the ruined city of Derna, relatives of those victims told CNN that they were afraid.

Greece Affected

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An extremely powerful low-pressure system that caused catastrophic floods in Greece last week and traveled into the Mediterranean before evolving into a tropical cyclone known as a medicine is what caused the rain that has blanketed many cities in the north-east of Libya.

The terrible storm occurs during a year marked by unparalleled climate disasters and harsh weather, including devastating wildfires and stifling heat. The Mediterranean Sea's temperature is substantially above average, which, according to scientists, contributed to the storm's tremendous rainfall, as ocean temperatures around the world rise out of control as a result of pollution that is warming the earth.

According to Karsten Haustein, a climate scientist and meteorologist at Leipzig University in Germany, "the warmer water not only fuels those storms in terms of rainfall intensity, it also makes them more ferocious."

Due to a protracted political war that has seen a decade-long power struggle between two competing governments, Libya is more susceptible to severe weather. In contrast to its adversary in the east, which is governed by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) and supports the eastern-based parliament led by Osama Hamad, the Government of National Unity (GNU), endorsed by the UN, is situated in Tripoli in north-west Libya.

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Derna, which is located about 190 miles (300 kilometers) to the east of Benghazi, is governed by Haftar and his eastern government.

The complicated political landscape of the nation "poses challenges for developing risk communication and hazard assessment strategies, coordinating rescue operations, and also potentially for the maintenance of critical infrastructure such as dams," Leslie Mabon, lecturer in environmental systems at The Open University, told the Science Media Centre.

Dams Collapse

According to officials, the two dams that collapsed and enabled water to pour into Derna inflicted catastrophic devastation.

The destruction of three bridges and the surging flood swept away neighbourhoods as a whole and were subsequently dumped into the sea, according to Ahmed Mismari, an LNA official.

Strong, muddy currents carried vehicles and debris, washing away homes in valleys, according to Aly, a representative for the Emergency and Ambulance Authority.

Aly told CNN that because of the extensive damage, the city's phone connections are down, hindering rescue attempts and preventing employees from entering Derna.

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According to Aly, the disaster's scope was not anticipated by the authorities.

"The weather conditions were not studied well; the seawater levels and rainfall [were not studied], the wind speeds, and there was no evacuation of families that could be in the path of the storm and in valleys," he claimed.

"Libya was unprepared for an event of that magnitude. That degree of calamity had never previously occurred there. Even if this is the first time we have faced such a calamity, we are acknowledging that there were shortcomings, Aly told Al Hurra station.

'Unprecedented Flooding'

It appears that the storm will rank among the deadliest on record in North Africa.

According to a report from the official news agency Libyan News Agency (LANA), Hamad, the chief of the eastern administration, declared that the situation in Libya is "unprecedented."

The floods have reportedly affected a number of cities, including Al-Bayda, Al-Marj, Tobruk, Takenis, Al-Bayada, and Battah, as well as the eastern coast all the way to Benghazi, according to Mismari, the LNA spokesperson. At least 37 residential structures were carried into the water.

Mismari declared, "We are not ready for such a scale of destruction."

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He said, "Libyan authorities need three different kinds of specialised search groups, including teams to recover bodies from the sea, teams to recover bodies from under the rubble, and teams to recover bodies from rugged valleys after torrents dispersed them."

Although tens of thousands of military men have been dispatched, Mismari claims that many of the flood-affected areas are still inaccessible to first responders.

As search and rescue crews struggle to locate survivors among the debris and rubble, a number of nations and human rights organisations have offered assistance.

In the wake of the accident, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) stated that the nation is facing "an unprecedented humanitarian crisis."

IRC's senior vice president for crisis response, Ciaran Donelly, stated that the difficulties in Libya "are immense, with phone lines down and heavy destruction hampering rescue efforts." After years of conflict and instability, he continued, the situation in the country has been "steadily deteriorating" as a result of climate change.

Turkey's Aircraft Came To The Rescue

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Turkey's Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) reported on Tuesday that Turkish aircraft carrying humanitarian aid had arrived in Libya.

According to state-run news agency Anadolu Agency, on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that his nation would send 168 search and rescue teams as well as humanitarian aid to Benghazi.

According to Tuesday's announcement by the country's Civil Protection Department, Italy is sending a civil defence team to help with rescue efforts.

US Sent There Envoy For Help

Ambassador Richard Norland, the US's special envoy to Libya, declared a formal declaration of humanitarian need, according to the US Embassy in Tripoli.

This "would authorise the United States to provide early funding to support relief efforts in Libya. We are working together with UN partners and the Libyan government to determine how to best direct official US assistance," the statement read on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Rescue Team Was Sent By The President Of The United Arab Emirates

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According to a state news agency, the President of the United Arab Emirates, Zayed Al Nahyan, has ordered the dispatch of help and search and rescue teams while expressing his condolences to those impacted by the disaster.

Osama Askar, the chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, headed a military mission that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi dispatched to Libya on Tuesday to oversee the delivery of logistical and humanitarian aid.

According to a statement from the World Meteorological Organisation quoting Libya's National Meteorological Centre, the storm peaked on Monday in northeastern Libya.

The storm in Libya comes after disastrous flooding in numerous other regions of the world, such as southern Europe and Hong Kong.

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