Current:Home > ContactAP PHOTOS: Satellite images show flood devastation that killed more than 11,000 in Libya -FutureFinance
AP PHOTOS: Satellite images show flood devastation that killed more than 11,000 in Libya
View
Date:2025-04-15 00:14:31
DERNA, Libya (AP) — Images taken by satellite show the physical devastation from a flood that killed at least 11,300 people in the eastern Libyan city of Derna.
Two dams above Derna burst early Monday under the pressure from rain dropped by a storm. The pent-up water swept blocks of low-lying downtown Derna out to the Mediterranean Sea.
Many said they heard loud explosions as the dams exploded. A flood several meters (many feet) high rolled down a mountainside into the city.
Images made about 400 miles above the earth’s surface show that the storm left a brown layer of mud and dirt across the city.
Untold numbers are buried under mud and debris that includes overturned cars and chunks of concrete. The death toll soared to 11,300 as search efforts continue, Marie el-Drese, secretary-general of the Libyan Red Crescent, told The Associated Press by phone Thursday.
She said that an additional 10,100 had been reported missing. Health authorities previously put the death toll in Derna at 5,500.
The satellite pictures show dirt and debris stretching out to sea into Derna’s shallow waters, which appeared visibly brown near the shoreline. Many bodies washed out to sea have come back with the tide, rescue workers say.
The floods have displaced at least 30,000 people in Derna, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, and several thousand others were forced to leave their homes in other eastern towns, it said.
Bridges and other basic infrastructure have also been wiped out, especially buildings near the Wadi Derna river.
Because of the damage to roads, aid only began trickling into the city on Tuesday evening.
veryGood! (92517)
Related
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- Man arrested at Trump rally in Pennsylvania wanted to hang a protest banner, police say
- Mia Farrow says she 'completely' understands if actors work with Woody Allen
- 11-year-old boy charged with killing former Louisiana city mayor, his daughter: Police
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Inside Leah Remini and Angelo Pagán's Unusual Love Story
- Will Tiffani Thiessen’s Kids follow in Her Actor Footsteps? The Saved by the Bell Star Says…
- Horoscopes Today, September 3, 2024
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- Chad T. Richards, alleged suspect in murder of gymnast Kara Welsh, appears in court
Ranking
- Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
- How Wheel of Fortune's Vanna White First Reacted to Ryan Seacrest Replacing Pat Sajak
- Inside Leah Remini and Angelo Pagán's Unusual Love Story
- Kendall Jenner Ditches Her Signature Style for Bold Haircut in Calvin Klein Campaign
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- From attic to auction: A Rembrandt painting sells for $1.4M in Maine
- Nevada grandmother faces fines for giving rides to Burning Man attendees
- How Joey King Is Celebrating First Wedding Anniversary to Steven Piet
Recommendation
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Brittni Mason sprints to silver in women's 100m, takes on 200 next
Civil rights activist Sybil Morial, wife of New Orleans’ first Black mayor, dead at 91
Family of deceased Alabama man claims surgeon removed liver, not spleen, before his death
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
4 Las Vegas teens plead guilty in classmate’s deadly beating as part of plea deal
US wheelchair basketball team blows out France, advances to semis
Ezra Frech wins more gold; US 400m runners finish 1-2 again