Floods Trap Areas in Southwest Libya, Residents Call for Help!
Ghat, Tahala, Alawinat, Albrak, and Tinkawa in southwest Libya have been hit by severe weather, resulting in heavy rainfall that caused devastating floods, leaving these areas vulnerable to varying degrees of damage.
The “Libyan National Army” forces quickly moved to evacuate stranded families after the crisis deepened in the far southern regions, with road traffic halting, communication disruptions, and damage to citizens’ farms.
The Libyan National Meteorological Center had warned last Thursday of rainfall in southwestern regions near the border, including Ghat, Al-Qatron, Murzuq, and Taraghin, and anticipated that it would cause rivers and floods to flow.
Early on Friday, the Municipal Council of Tahala declared the area a disaster zone and called on all Libyans, including governments, institutions, organizations, and associations, to save what can be saved, especially since the floods are still ongoing, with power and communication networks, including the internet, being cut off.
With the power outage in those areas, several citizens fled their water-surrounded homes, while other families were stranded before the “Tariq bin Ziyad Brigade” and the “128th Enhanced Brigade,” affiliated with the “National Army” (Khalifa Haftar’s forces), rushed to evacuate them.
Osama Hamad, the Prime Minister of East Libya, tasked the formation of an Emergency and Rapid Response Committee for the city of Ghat, headed by his deputy Salem Al-Zadama, to take all precautionary measures to deal with the bad weather in the region.
The “Government of National Unity,” headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, stated that a committee had been formed to assess the damage to the communication networks caused by the floods in the southwestern regions and work on their repair.
Dbeibeh also tasked the Ministry of Health with sending urgent medical teams to the affected areas and supporting Ghat Hospital and health centers, while directing the Ministry of Social Affairs to provide support to the affected families and the Ministry of Water Resources to assess the damage and address the flow of floods.
Oualid Kebir ✍🏼
