The country ravaged by war for over a decade now was hit by storm Daniel, which led to over 5,000 deaths
On September 12, 2023, storm Daniel pounded the port city of Derna in Libya and left over 5,000 dead and more than 10,000 missing. The small city of just over 90,000 inhabitants was flattened, with built structures swept away and two dams burst on the outskirts of the city.
The storm also hit Benghazi, which is the second-largest city. The floods have been touted as a combination of the country’s vulnerable geography, growing intensity of the climate crisis and crumbling infrastructure due to military conflict and political neglect.
In Derna, the average rainfall is about 1.5 millimetres for September. But this time, it exceeded 150 mm in just two days, accompanied by winds of up to 80 kilometres per hour brought by ‘medicane’ Daniel, a tropical-like cyclonic storm over the Mediterranean.
As the storm formed in Greece, it also caused destruction and loss of life in Turkey and Bulgaria. While ‘medicanes’ do not last very long, this time they drew energy from the warm waters since sea surface temperatures in the Mediterranean have been 2-3 degrees Celsius higher than they have been in the past.
In a research paper published last year, hydrologist Abdul Wanees AR Ashoor of Libya's Omar Al-Mukhtar University said repeated flooding of the seasonal riverbed, or wadi, was a threat to Derna. He cited five floods since 1942 and called for immediate steps to ensure regular maintenance of the dams.
Derna is situated at the end of a valley and is bisected by the seasonal river, which should ideally be protected from flooding by dams. After breaching the first dam, which is 12 km upstream from the city, the floodwater continued downstream and swept off the second dam to enter the city.
This is a telling account of the dilapidated infrastructure in the country. As the country has been ravaged by war for over a decade now, the war between rival factions (in Tripoli and Robruk) has made the built structures deteriorate at a rapid pace.
The damage borne by Libya could also have been aided by the quick disbursal of funds from the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF), which was established at 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework in November 2022.
Moreover, the country does not get flooded regularly so it also does not have adaptation measures such as early warning systems, which makes it more vulnerable to natural disasters in the years to come.
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