Current:Home > NewsAP PHOTOS: Satellite images show flood devastation that killed more than 11,000 in Libya -WealthSphere Pro
AP PHOTOS: Satellite images show flood devastation that killed more than 11,000 in Libya
View
Date:2025-04-23 07:59:07
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! (5895)
Related
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Billionaires are ditching Nvidia. Here are the 2 AI stocks they're buying instead.
- Trump, in reversal, opposes TikTok ban, calls Facebook enemy of the people
- Get 20% Off Charlotte Tilbury, 50% Off Adidas, $600 Off Saatva Mattresses, $17 Comforters & More Deals
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- Dan + Shay serenade 'The Voice' contestant and her fiancé, more highlights from auditions
- Mets legend Darryl Strawberry recovering after suffering heart attack
- No, the Bengals' Joe Burrow isn't MAGA like friend Nick Bosa, but there are questions
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Supreme Court extends pause on Texas law that would allow state police to arrest migrants
Ranking
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- Director Roman Polanski is sued over more allegations of sexual assault of a minor
- Wife pleads guilty in killing of UConn professor, whose body was left in basement for months
- Nashville police continue search for missing Mizzou student Riley Strain
- A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
- Sharon Stone reveals studio executive who allegedly pressured her to have sex with Billy Baldwin
- Climate, a major separator for Biden and Trump, is a dividing line in many other races, too
- Lake Minnetonka just misses breaking 100-year record, ice remains after warm winter
Recommendation
Trump's 'stop
Sister Wives’ Christine Brown Shares Photos Honoring “Incredible” Garrison Brown
Karl Wallinger of UK bands World Party and the Waterboys dies at 66: Reports
Madonna taps Cardi B, daughter Estere for Celebration Tour 'Vogue' dance-off
Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
Man fatally shoots girlfriend and her adult daughters during a domestic incident, deputies say
Keke Palmer, Jimmy Fallon talk 'Password' Season 2, best celebrity guests
The View's Whoopi Goldberg Defends Kate Middleton Over Photo Controversy