Storm Daniel's deadly flooding spreads to Libya
Catastrophic flooding and massive sandstorms have hit parts of Libya and Egypt over the last 48 hours as the remnants of Storm Daniel swept across North Africa.
Just days after causing devastating flooding in parts of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, a Mediterranean low pressure system named Storm Daniel made landfall near Benghazi in northern Libya on Saturday night.
Following landfall, the system tracked inland across northeastern Libya on Sunday, before crossing the border into northern Egypt on Monday.
Image: Satellite image showing the low pressure system over northern Libya on Sunday, September 10. Source: EUMETSAT
Daniel’s journey over North Africa unleashed torrential rain in northern Libya and caused massive sandstorms over parts of Libya and Egypt.
According to reports, more than 2,000 people are feared dead in the Derna region of Lybia and several bridges and dams have collapsed in the region.
Disaster unfolding in Libya 🇱🇾
— Scott Duncan (@ScottDuncanWX) September 11, 2023
on the back of Storm Daniel (linked to the system which recently flooded Greece). This footage is from Derna on the north coast of Libya.
More than 2,000 people in Libya are feared dead. Details are still emerging.pic.twitter.com/ukbPKFgGS5
The satellite images below show evidence of flooding in northeast Libya on September 11, in the wake of the low pressure system.
Images: Images captured by the Aqua satellite on September 11, 2023. The two images show flooded rivers over land and sediment outflow near the coast. The top image is natural colour and bottom image uses false colour to highlight the floodwater. Source: NASA Worldview
Satellites have also captured images of the huge sandstorms created by the low pressure system's winds this week. The images below show a massive band of dust stretching hundreds of kilometres across northern Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea on Monday.
Images: Visible true-colour images captured by the Terra (top) and Suomi NPP (bottom) satellites on Monday, September 11, 2023, showing a large sandstorm sweeping over northern Egypt.
After causing high impact weather across several countries on two continents, Daniel will finally weaken on Tuesday and become a more benign low pressure trough over the eastern Mediterranean Sea.