The hurricane that hit Libya created lakes and rivers in the Sahara Desert

Satellite images revealed the extent of the destruction caused by tropical cyclone Medicane, a rare Mediterranean storm, in the North African country of Libya. The images show temporary lakes and river systems stretching across the desert landscape, as well as flooded neighborhoods in the hard-hit coastal city of Derna.

Lakes and rivers formed in the Sahara Desert

Tropical cyclone Medicane, a rare hurricane-like storm that formed over the Mediterranean last week, started by dumping record amounts of rain on Greece and caused a catastrophic deluge. The storm then crossed the sea and reached Libya in northern Africa.

It was reported that several dams burst under the pressure of heavy rains near the coastal city of Derna in northeastern Libya, releasing a large amount of water into the city and causing great damage to buildings. According to reports, more than 5,300 people have been confirmed dead so far due to the floods, and thousands of people are still missing.

Since the storm clouds dispersed, numerous satellites have managed to image Libya, revealing the extent of the flood and the destruction it caused. Images taken by Europe’s Earth observation satellite Sentinel-2 showed ephemeral lakes and river systems stretching across the otherwise arid Libyan landscape.

In the statement made by the European environmental monitoring program Copernicus, which operates the Sentinel satellites, it was said: “These two images obtained by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on September 2 and 12 show the Libyan desert before and after the storm.” The image on the left of the top image shows the desert in its normal state, while the image on the right shows flooded areas in shades of cyan and blue.

an unusual situation

Storms called Medicane in the Mediterranean are relatively rare. One to three of these occur every year. However, it is stated that it is even more unusual for a Saharan country like Libya to be affected by this type of weather event, as these storms mostly hit the western part of the Mediterranean region. Experts say that due to global warming, such storms may occur more frequently in the Mediterranean and their intensity may increase with the effect of warming.