Eastern Libya orders journalists out of flood-hit Derna after protests

Media crackdown follows reports that police officers had detained and questioned Libyan reporters

Libya’s eastern government has ordered journalists to leave Derna after angry protests against the authorities a week after a flood killed thousands of residents.

Hundreds of people gathered on Monday outside Sahaba mosque in the city, chanting slogans. Some sat on its gold-domed roof. Later in the evening, a crowd set fire to the house of the man who was Derna’s mayor at the time of the disaster, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi.

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Climate action must respond to extreme weather driving health crisis, says WHO

Melting ice caps and rising sea levels are urgent but people care more about the floods, wildfires and droughts that are here now, New York summit hears

Floods, wildfires, drought and the onslaught of extreme weather are driving a global health crisis that must be put at the centre of climate action, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

“The climate crisis is a health crisis; it drives extreme weather and is taking lives around the world,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the WHO, said. “Melting ice caps and rising sea levels are, of course, crucial issues, but for most people they are distant threats in both time and place. The threats of our changing climate are right here and right now.”

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Libya protesters set fire to mayor’s home in anger over Derna flood deaths

Hundreds have demonstrated demanding ‘urgent’ international investigations into the disaster that left thousands dead

Protests broke out in the Libyan city of Derna on Monday, with hundreds venting their anger against authorities and demanding accountability one week after a flood that killed thousands of residents and destroyed entire neighbourhoods.

Later in the evening, angry protesters set fire to the house of the man who was Derna’s mayor at the time of the flood, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, his office manager told Reuters.

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Libya floods: warlord using disaster response to exert control, say observers

Khalifa Haftar and Libyan National Army militia said to be overseeing humanitarian relief arriving in city of Derna

As search and rescue teams continue to hunt for bodies trapped underneath the mud and rubble of their homes in the Libyan coastal city of Derna, observers say the warlord Khalifa Haftar and his sons are using the disaster response as a way to exert control rather than ensure vital humanitarian relief reaches civilians.

At least 11,300 people have died and more than 10,000 are missing, according to the Libyan Red Crescent, after two dams burst during a powerful storm last week.

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‘Towns were erased’: Libyan reporters on the ‘horrifying, harrowing’ aftermath of floods

Journalists who reported on last week’s catastrophic storm say the country’s bloody political tussle has contributed to the collapse of services

Early last week, Mohamed Eljabo travelled to the eastern provinces of Libya, passing through Derna, Al Bayda and Sousa, and what he saw he describes as “shock beyond comprehension”.

“I have visited these cities before and I know them well,” he says. “I expected to find these cities when I made the journey from Tripoli. I expected to see the neighbourhoods and towns. But these were gone. Erased. It was horrifying.”

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Libya flood: international aid arrives as authorities open investigation

WHO says aid to help 250,000 people has arrived in Benghazi as death toll estimated at more than 11,000

International aid is arriving in Libya from the UN, Europe and Middle Eastern countries, offering some relief to thousands after flooding submerged the port city of Derna.

The World Health Organization said “the bodies of 3,958 people have been recovered and identified”, with 9,000 more still missing, as it announced 29 tonnes of aid had arrived in the eastern city of Benghazi, enough to help 250,000 people.

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Libyan authorities seal off most of flood-hit Derna in effort to limit deaths

Only emergency workers to be allowed into devastated area over fears of contamination from dead bodies in limited water supply

Libyan authorities have largely sealed off the flood-devastated port town of Derna from civilians in an effort to give space to emergency aid workers and amid concern that contamination of standing water may add to the already horrific death toll.

Salem Al-Ferjani, director general of the ambulance and emergency service in eastern Libya, said that only search and rescue teams would be allowed to enter parts of the town most affected by the flooding that has left at least 11,000 dead according to official projections. Many citizens have already left the town voluntarily.

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Libya and Morocco: two very different responses to catastrophe

The aftermath of an earthquake in Morocco and flooding in Libya has shown up the state of the two nations

Not one but two disasters have struck in recent days – the earthquake in Morocco and devastating flooding in Libya.

At least 2,900 people are known to have died in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains a week ago, and the authorities say the death toll will rise.

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‘The waters carried my son away in front of my eyes’: anguished Libyans mourn lost loved ones

Relatives grieve and search in desperation as Derna’s mayor fears death toll from floods may exceed 20,000

Omar al-Rifadi has been searching for his missing 20-year-old daughter ever since disaster struck the Libyan city of Derna on Sunday, when she disappeared, lost in the darkness amid a catastrophic flood that claimed the lives of thousands and swept many into the sea.

“I walked on foot to look for her. I went to all the hospitals and schools. But luck was not on my side,” the 52-year-old said, tears streaming down his face.

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Weather tracker: Libya floods caused by Storm Daniel ‘medicane’

Country hit by record rainfall that followed Mediterranean storm with similarities to tropical cyclone

After battering Greece last week, Storm Daniel caused further devastating floods, this time affecting Libya. As the storm moved across the Sahara, it developed into what is informally known as a medicane, a storm in the Mediterranean that develops characteristics similar to those seen in tropical cyclones, notably a central eye. The particularly warm Mediterranean water fuelled by the extreme heat seen over southern Europe this summer, helped strengthen Daniel as it approached Libya.

By Saturday 10 September, Daniel had reached north-eastern Libya, with winds of 70-80mph, according to Libya’s National Meteorological Centre. The devastation then came from extreme rainfall, as 24-hour totals of 150mm-240mm were widely recorded in the region. One station in the city of Al-Bayda recorded a rainfall total of 414.1mm in 24 hours, a new record for the area. These torrential rains caused two dams to collapse, which resulted in devastating flash flooding that has killed thousands of people.

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Libyans call for inquiry as fury grows over death toll from catastrophic floods

Attorney general asked to investigate amid allegations warnings ignored about dangerous state of two dams

Libya’s attorney general has been asked by senior politicians to launch an urgent inquiry into the catastrophic floods that have killed tens of thousands of people, including into allegations local officials imposed a curfew on the night Storm Daniel struck.

The Libyan Red Crescent put the death toll at more than 11,000 people, with nearly 20,000 still missing, the highest estimate yet from an official source. It said almost 2,000 bodies were swept into the sea by the floods.

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‘An alarm bell’: Libyan poet warned of flood risk in Derna before dying in storms

Mustafa al-Trabelsi attended a meeting about state of the dams days before Storm Daniel hit city

In Derna, and indeed across Libya, everyone is sharing a poem called The Rain, written by a poet from the city, Mustafa al-Trabelsi, who died in the floods. On 6 September, days before writing the poem, he had attended a meeting at the Derna house of culture to discuss the risk of a flood in the city and the state of the dams.

The poem is short but pertinent. It reads:

The rain
Exposes the drenched streets,
the cheating contractor,
and the failed state.
It washes everything,
bird wings
and cats’ fur.
Reminds the poor
of their fragile roofs
and ragged clothes.
It awakens the valleys,
shakes off their yawning dust
and dry crusts.
The rain
a sign of goodness,
a promise of help,
an alarm bell.

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Libya floods: appeals for body bags amid fears of disease ‘epidemic’

Mayor of flood-hit city of Derna calls for body-recovery teams as international aid starts to arrive

Rescue workers in the devastated Libyan city of Derna have appealed for more body bags, after a catastrophic flood killed thousands of people and swept many out to sea.

International aid is slowly starting to reach the port city after Storm Daniel hit the northern coast of Libya on Saturday night. As many as 20,000 people are feared to have died.

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Libya’s floods are result of climate crisis meeting a failed state

Storm Daniel was by no means the only factor behind the devastation wrought on the city of Derna

When the climate crisis meets a failed state, the outcome is the kind of disaster that Libya is witnessing in Derna.

Any city would have struggled with the extraordinary level of precipitation that Storm Daniel visited upon Libya’s northern coast. In its earlier, milder form, the storm caused severe damage in Greece before it crossed the Mediterranean.

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‘Sea is constantly dumping bodies’: fears Libya flood death toll may hit 20,000

Full scale of devastation in north African nation still not clear as aid agencies struggle to reach cut-off areas

International aid is slowly starting to reach the devastated port city of Derna as questions are raised over how as many as 20,000 people may have died when Storm Daniel hit the northern coast of Libya on Saturday night.

Ten thousand people were declared missing by official aid agencies such as the Libyan Red Crescent, but the ominous higher estimate of 20,000 deaths came from the director of al-Bayda medical centre, Abdul Rahim Maziq.

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‘Disastrous beyond comprehension’: 10,000 missing after Libya floods

Neighbourhoods washed away in port city of Derna, where two dams burst, with many bodies swept out to sea

The situation in Derna, the Libyan port city where two dams burst over the weekend, has been described as “disastrous beyond comprehension”, as the Red Cross and local officials said at least 10,000 people were missing after the devastating floods.

The confirmed death toll has exceeded 5,300, Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesperson for the administration that controls the east of Libya told a state-run news agency late on Tuesday. Tariq al-Kharraz, another representative of the eastern government, said that entire neighbourhoods had been washed away, with many bodies swept out to sea.

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Up to 2,000 feared drowned after Libyan city hit by ‘catastrophic’ storm floods

Local leaders in eastern city of Derna say thousands missing after two ageing dams collapse overnight

As many as 2,000 people may have been drowned after a powerful storm unleashed catastrophic floods in the eastern Libyan city of Derna, according to the head of one of the country’s two rival governments.

Ossama Hamad, prime minister of the eastern-based government, said on Monday that thousands were believed missing after torrential rains over the weekend. The Red Crescent in Benghazi had put the death toll closer to just 250, but the worst-hit area of Derna remained largely cut off with local leaders claiming the situation in the city was “out of control and a catastrophe”.

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Libyan foreign minister flees country amid outcry over meeting with Israeli counterpart

Najla al-Mangoush had already been suspended after news of secret meeting with Eli Cohen was released

Libya’s foreign minister has fled the country after news of a secret meeting in Rome between her and her Israeli counterpart last week was released by the Israeli foreign ministry, causing a political outcry in Tripoli and two nights of street protests across the country.

Najla al-Mangoush had already been suspended by her Tripoli-based prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, on Sunday evening when news of the meeting broke. Officials initially claimed the meeting had been a chance affair and not planned.

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Video shows woman lying dead on floor of migration detention centre in Libya

Footage provides latest shocking glimpse of conditions endured by refugees in north African country

Footage has emerged showing a woman lying dead on the floor of a migration detention centre in Libya in the latest shocking glimpse of the conditions endured by refugees in the north African country.

The clip, believed to have been filmed two weeks ago and shared with the Guardian by a group who arrived in Tunisia from Libya, shows a room inside the Abu Salim detention centre in Tripoli.

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Libya suspends foreign minister after Israel meeting sparks protests

Protesters in Tripoli wave Palestinian flags and block roads over what Libyan foreign ministry called a ‘chance and unofficial encounter’ with Israeli counterpart

The leader of Libya’s government has suspended his foreign minister after her Israeli counterpart announced he had held talks with her last week in Rome, despite the countries not having formal relations.

Prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said on Sunday evening that minister Najla al-Mangoush has been “temporarily suspended” and would be subject to an “administrative investigation” by a commission chaired by the justice minister.

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