The head of the Red Crescent in Benghazi, Kais Fhakeri, has confirmed that Storm Daniel has killed at least 150 people dead in Derna, after water levels in the city rose as high as three metres (10 feet).

Two dams have also collapsed in the city, the Derna municipal council has said, and videos posted online show entire residential blocks destroyed along Wadi Derna, a river that runs down from the mountains through the city centre.

“The city of Derna is completely surrounded by mountains, and these dams collapsed,” said Al Jazeera’s Malik Traina, reporting from the capital, Tripoli, in Libya’s west. “Some experts are saying more than 30 million cubic square metres of water was dumped into the city, and we’re starting to see pictures of entire neighbourhoods destroyed.”

Footage on social media showed people stranded on the roofs of their vehicles as Storm Daniel hit the cities of Benghazi, Susa, Bayda, al-Marj and Derna on Sunday and Monday.

Note: Source updated

  • @cnnrduncan@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    010 months ago

    Mate it may be hard to believe but the vast majority of people are not obsessed with American celebrities/politicians. Did you really need to leave some snarky comment about their former president on an article about thousands of people dying in a horrific natural disaster?

    • @CraigeryTheKid@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      210 months ago

      Ok, so, I was just agreeing with the person above me about what my brain saw first, given how obsessed and oversaturated my news unfortunately is.

      The dumb hashtag was removed, but otherwise I certainly wasn’t downplaying the tragedy.

    • AngrilyEatingMuffins
      link
      fedilink
      110 months ago

      pretty sure the vast majority of people on the internet know who the American president is and who the last few were, and have an opinion on them. why wouldn’t they? the American president’s decisions impact people across the globe.

      • Deceptichum
        link
        fedilink
        110 months ago

        I doubt most could make the Stormy Daniels connection however.