Criminal Court convicts twelve officials responsible for managing Derna's dams

‎The Attorney General’s Office reported today that Derna Criminal Court convicted twelve defendants for the failure of Derna’s dams in the 2023 Storm Daniel disaster that led to x of deaths and massive destruction to the city.

The Attorney General’s Office said the court considered the incidents attributed to sixteen officials responsible for the flood incident in the city of Derna in 2023, completed the investigation of the facts of the case, and then ruled today, convicting twelve defendants:

The first, second, third, sixth, seventh, eleventh and twelfth convicts were sentence to nine years imprisonment and to pay the blood money sentenced.
The court sentenced the tenth convict to fifteen years imprisonment and to pay the blood money sentenced.
The thirteenth convict was sentence to imprisonment for a period of 27 years.
The fourteenth convict was sentence to 26 years and payment of the blood money sentenced.
The court sentenced the sixteenth convict to twenty-four years in prison, and payment of the blood money sentenced.
The court acquitted the fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth defendants.
It obligated the tenth, thirteenth and fourteenth convicts to return the money obtained from their illicit gain.‎

Background
It will be recalled that in December 2023, the Attorney General’s Office had announced that a criminal case had been filed against sixteen people deemed responsible for the September 2023 flood incident in Derna.

Additionally, the Head of the Derna City Reconstruction Fund and a member of its Finance Committee were detained, pending the case, accused of mismanagement of the Derna City Reconstruction Fund.

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The floods, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published in December 2023, had caused widespread destruction, with whole neighbourhoods flushed away and thousands of people killed.

Despite flood warnings up to three days before the storm made landfall on September 9, officials in the coastal city of Derna issued conflicting orders about evacuations and imposed a curfew that effectively trapped people in the path of torrents of water after the collapse of two dams, the report added.

The flooding killed at least 4,352 people and displaced more than 43,000, while another 8,000 remain missing, according to the United Nations.

Storm Daniel had reached Libya on September 9, causing severe flooding the next day after two dams upstream from Derna collapsed. The torrent of water washed away neighbourhoods and damaged critical sewage and water infrastructure that has yet to be repaired, according to the UN. It damaged the main hospitals, leaving only one partially functional. Schools were also affected.

The flooding also affected but caused less damage in other eastern cities such as Benghazi, Al-Bayda, Shahat, and Soussa.

Libyan engineers had warned of “vulnerabilities” of the two dams that were not being addressed following flood damage in 1986. A 2022 hydrology study classified the Wadi Derna Basin as at “high risk” of flooding and found “poor management of water resources” and that “recurring floods from time to time have become a constant threat to the residents of the valley and the city of Derna.”

The study recommended that the authorities should “take immediate measures to carry out periodic maintenance of existing dams because in the event of a huge flood, the result will be disastrous on the residents of the valley and the city,” and said that the authorities should make downstream residents “aware of the danger of floods and to take all necessary measures for their safety.”

The World Meteorological Organization said that the Libyan National Meteorological Centre issued warnings 72 hours before the storm arrived and urged “all governmental authorities” via email and the media to “take preventive measures and to take more care and caution.”

Eastern authorities responded by calling a state of emergency, and former Derna Mayor Abdelmonem al-Ghaithi on September 9 gave instructions to evacuate the neighbourhoods of al-Bilad, al-Jbeilah, Sayidah Khadija, Wadi al-Naga, and the area between Derna’s western gate and the al-Karsa municipal branch office.

Media reports stated that between September 9 and 10, some residents, mostly from the coastal areas, evacuated, but early on September 10, Derna’s Security Directorate, affiliated with the eastern government, ordered a full curfew from 7 a.m. until 8 a.m. the next morning, with instructions for only bakeries, pharmacies, gas stations, and medical centers to remain open. At 1:12 a.m., the Water Resources Ministry reassured residents under curfew that all dams in Derna had been inspected and were in good condition.

But at 2:59 a.m., it announced that the dams had reached their capacity and would pose a risk of flooding for people downstream, calling for their evacuation. In fact, the dams had already collapsed at 2:40 and 2:50 am respectively and the communications network in Derna was disrupted. By that time, it was too late to evacuate residents ahead of the oncoming flood.

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