Death toll from Libya’s floods rises to 5,500; victims buried in mass graves

Derna, Sep 14: The city of Derna has buried thousands of people in mass graves, Libyan officials said Thursday, as search teams scoured ruins left by devastating floods and the city’s mayor said that the death toll could triple.
The deluge swept away entire families on Sunday night and exposed vulnerabilities in the oil-rich country that has been mired in conflict since the 2011 uprising that toppled long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Health officials have confirmed 5,500 deaths and say 9,000 people are still missing. Here’s a look at the latest developments.
Daniel, an unusually strong Mediterranean storm, caused deadly flooding in towns across eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna.
As the storm pounded the coast Sunday night, residents said they heard loud explosions when the dams outside the city collapsed.
Floodwaters washed down Wadi Derna, a valley that cuts through the city, crashing through buildings and washing people out to sea.
A UN official said Thursday that most casualties could have been avoided.
“If there would have been a normal operating meteorological service, they could have issued the warnings,” World Meteorological Organization head Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva. “The emergency management authorities would have been able to carry out the evacuation.”
The WMO said earlier this week that the National Meteorological Centre had issued warnings 72 hours before the flooding, notifying all governmental authorities by e-mail and through media. It was not immediately clear whether or how those warnings were acted upon.
The startling devastation reflected the storm’s intensity, but also Libya’s vulnerability.
Oil-rich Libya has been divided between rival governments for most of the past decade – one in the east, the other in the west – and one result has been widespread neglect of infrastructure.
The dams that collapsed outside Derna were built in the 1970s and have not been maintained for years, local media reported.
The disaster brought a rare moment of unity, as government agencies across the country rushed to help the affected areas.
The death toll from devastating floods that struck eastern Libya has risen to 5,500, with another 7,000 injured, a local official said.
Osama Ali, the spokesman for the Tripoli-based emergency services, said on Wednesday that no final death toll could be determined yet because bodies are still being recovered from the affected areas.
Ali added that about 10,000 people have been reported missing and that 30,000 people have been displaced by the floods, adding the flood-hit regions face a severe shortage of basic supplies, Xinhua news agency reported. (Agencies)