Libya Buries Thousands In Mass Graves After Flood

The Mayor of Libyan city of Derna says thousands of people have been buried in mass graves, even as search teams scoured ruins following the devastating floods.

The deluge swept away entire families on Sunday night and according to Health officials 5,500 deaths have been confirmed and 9,000 people are still missing.

Daniel, an unusually strong Mediterranean storm, caused deadly flooding in towns across eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna, when two dams outside the city collapsed.

The Health Ministry further said the storm also killed around 170 people in other parts of eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa, Um Razaz and Marj.

Meanwhile, World Meteorological Organization head Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva that most casualties could have been avoided if there would have been a normal operating meteorological service which could have issued the warnings.

The WMO said earlier this week that the National Meteorological Center had issued warnings 72 hours before the flooding, notifying all governmental authorities by email and through media.

Officials in eastern Libya warned the public about the coming storm but did not suggest the dams could collapse or present an evacuation plan.

The two dams that collapsed outside Derna were built in the 1970s. A report by a state-run audit agency in 2021 said the dams had not been maintained despite the allocation of more than 2 million euros for that purpose in 2012 and 2013.

Libya’s Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah acknowledged the maintenance issues in a Cabinet meeting Thursday and called on the Public Prosecutor to open an urgent investigation into the dams’ collapse.