Satellite images reveal the extent of the destruction brought by Doctor Daniel to Libya in recent days. The images show temporary lakes and river systems in the desert landscape and reveal neighborhoods submerged by floodwaters in the badly affected coastal town of Drrna.
The doctor Daniele, a rare hurricane-like storm that formed over the Mediterranean Sea last week, began its devastating rampage by dumping record amounts of rain on Greece, causing a catastrophic deluge. The storm then crossed the sea to Libya in northern Africa.
Near the coastal city of Derna in northeastern Libya, several dams reportedly collapsed under the strain of Daniel’s torrential rains, dumping huge amounts of water on the city and causing extensive damage to buildings. More than 5,300 people have been confirmed to have died from the floods so far. according to Reuters, and thousands are still missing.
Since the storm clouds cleared, several satellites have managed to glimpse Libya, revealing the extent of the flooding and destruction it has caused. In the images taken by the European Earth observation Sentinel-2 satellite, temporary lakes and river systems can clearly be seen stretching across the normally arid Libyan terrain.
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“These two images, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 2 and 12 September, show the Libyan desert before and after the aftermath of Storm Daniel,” said the European environmental monitoring program Copernicus, which operates the Sentinel satellites. in a statement. “The image on the left depicts the desert in its normal state, while the image on the right shows the flooded areas in shades of cyan and blue.”
Nighttime images obtained by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) space probe and processed by British Earth observation researcher Simon Proud show the extent of the electricity blackouts following the storm, compared to images taken before Daniel’s passage.
“In the aftermath of the terrible flooding in Libya, satellites are helping to map the extent of human and physical destruction,” Proud said. in a post on X, sharing images. “These two ‘night lights’ images from @NOAASatellites VIIRS [Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite] the sensor shows much fewer lights after bad weather. Many areas are now without electricity.”
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Satellites owned by US Earth observation company Planet have provided a more detailed look at devastated Derna, where floods from collapsed dams have carved a large muddy trough through the city as the usually dry Wadi Derna River swelled well beyond its banks.
In the images taken in the aftermath of Storm Daniel, entire neighborhoods can be seen submerged in muddy water, the bridges that once connected the two banks of the river are missing and entire groups of houses along the river banks have disappeared.
Drugs, like Storm Daniel, are relatively rare, on average only one or three are formed each year. according to the University of Reading in the UK However, seeing an epidemic hit a Sahara country, such as Libya, is even more unusual, as these storms are known to most commonly affect the western part of the Mediterranean region, the university said in a statement. The data suggests so climate change They may decrease the frequency of drugs, but those that form in a warming Earth will likely be more potent than they would be in an overall cooler climate.