Libya flood disaster damaged ancient city but revealed new remains
Updated: 11:15am (AEST)Cyrene, Libya Reuters The flooding that killed thousands in Libya’s Derna last month damaged the ruins at the ancient Greek city of Cyrene in the mountains nearby, but it also revealed new archaeological remains there by washing away earth and stones. Storm Daniel may have caused a meter of rain to fall on […]
In Libya’s devastated Derna, families still search for the missing
Derna, Libya Reuters Since a huge flood swept away whole neighbourhoods of Libya’s city of Derna last month, Abdulsalam al-Kadi has been searching for his father and brother. He doesn’t expect to find them alive but he wants to bury them so he has a grave to mourn over. With friends, he has scoured mudbanks […]
Libya says Derna Mayor, other officials detained after flood
Benghazi, LibyaReuters The Mayor of Libya’s eastern city of Derna was detained along with other officials on suspicion of mismanagement and negligence over the collapse of dams that flooded the city two weeks ago, Libya’s attorney general’s office said on Monday. The attorney general’s office, based in the capital Tripoli, said it had issued orders […]
For Libya’s Haftar, flood aftermath tests strongman image
Reuters After Derna’s catastrophic floods, eastern Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar flew in by helicopter and received salutes from his troops as he toured the city where thousands of people were killed when whole districts were swept away. Three days later, residents vented their anger on the mud-caked streets, torching the mayor’s house as they […]
Libya floods sweep away migrants, and their hopes
Derna/Benghazi, LibyaReuters The small first-floor apartment in Derna became home away from home to Syrian migrant Ammar Kanaan, after the risk of drowning kept him from attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Europe that has cost the lives of so many. After fleeing Syria two years ago to avoid military service, Kanaan had found a […]
Climate change made Libya’s deadly rainfall up to 50 times more likely – study
Berlin, GermanyReuters Climate Change made the heavy rainfall that led to deadly floods in Libya up to 50 times more likely, scientists said on Tuesday. The powerful 10th September storm caused two dams to break, inundating Libya’s eastern city of Derna and killing thousands of people. Residential blocks built along a typically dry riverbank toppled, […]
Authorities try to contain anger in aftermath of Libya floods
Reuters Communications went down, some journalists were pushed out and a UN aid team was blocked from the flood-hit city of Derna on Tuesday, as the authorities sought to contain public anger over the failure to prevent Libya’s worst ever natural disaster. A week after a flood wiped out much of the centre of the […]
A week after floods, Libyans haunted by fate of the missing
Derna, Libya Reuters Sabreen Blil was on her hands and knees atop the rubble of her brother’s house, the wind beating at her black robe as she clawed with her bare hands at the flattened masonry in hope of somehow digging to the family buried below. She recited their names as she wept. “Taym, Yazan, […]
Libyan flood survivors weigh water shortages against landmine risk
Derna LibyaReuters People whose homes were swept away by flooding in Libya’s eastern city of Derna a week ago faced the dilemma on Sunday of whether to stay and risk infection or flee through areas where landmines have been displaced by the torrents. Thousands of people were killed after two dams above Derna broke on […]
Flood-hit Libyan city facing long recovery as search for missing goes on
Derna, Libya Reuters Residents of Derna in eastern Libya were counting their losses from a flood that devastated swathes of the coastal city as the search for the missing continued on Saturday for a sixth day and more bodies were pulled from the sea. Central Street, once a focus of economic activity in Derna lined […]