Before and after satellite images reveal devastating scale of flooding in Libya

This is the sheer scale of the catastrophe in northeastern Libya where Storm Daniel caused two dams to collapse.

Before and after satellite images reveal entire neighbourhoods washed away into the sea, roads submerged by flood water and buildings wiped out since the burst on Sunday.

Rescuers have found more than 2,000 bodies in the wreckage of the city of Derna, the worst-hit by the raging storm.

At least 5,300 people are feared dead, said the interior ministry of Libya’s eastern government.

Local officials have warned that many of those yet to be found are likely to have died.

Satellite images show the Wadi Derna river, running from the mountains through Derna and into the sea.

It has been dry for most of the year, though it floods semi-regularly when it rains.

On Sunday night, as the storm pounded the coast, residents reported hearing the loud explosions before realising the dams outside the city had collapsed.

Rescue teams were working day and night to recover many other bodies scattered in the streets and under the rubble in Derna.

Bodies were even retrieved from the sea before being buried in mass graves, said health minister, Othman Abduljaleel.

The devastation pointed to the storm’s intensity, but also the North African nation’s vulnerability caused by years of political turmoil.

Libya is divided by rival governments, one in the east, the other in the west, and the result has been neglect of infrastructure in many areas.

Investment in roads and public services has also dwindled.

Because of the destruction of access roads to Derna, the arrival of international rescue teams and humanitarian assistance was hampered.

Local emergency crews, including troops, government workers, volunteers and residents, continued digging through rubble looking for the dead.

Bulldozers have worked over the past two days to fix and clear roads to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and heavy equipment urgently needed for the search and rescue operations.

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