Mediterranean Storm Daniel passed through eastern Libya over the weekend of Sept. 9, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding that resulted in large-scale destruction. Daniel dropped so much rain on Libya’s northeast that two dams collapsed, sending water into already inundated areas.
The eastern city of Derna, home to around 125,00 people, was hit worst, with whole neighborhoods believed to have been destroyed. Images on social media reveal the scale of destruction in the city. The deputy mayor of Derna, Ahmed Madroud, told Al Jazeera on Sept. 12, “At least 20 percent of the city has been destroyed.”
Dax Bennet Roque, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s country director for Libya, said on Sept. 12, “Communities across Libya have endured years of conflict, poverty and displacement. The latest disaster will exacerbate the situation for these people. Hospitals and shelters will be overstretched amidst the large wave of displacement.”
Storm Daniel had devastating impacts across the Mediterranean the week of Sept. 4, including deadly flooding in Greece. The storm is known as a “medicane”, which AccuWeather describes as a tropical stormlike cyclone that forms when a non-tropical storm feeds off the warm waters of the Mediterranean. Medicane is a combination of the two words “Mediterranean” and “hurricane.”
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