Twenty port workers at Jordan's only sea outlet of Aqaba were hospitalised briefly on Tuesday as Storm Daniel mildly affected the area, authorities said. It comes as Libya grapples with the disaster in Derna, which is thought to have killed thousands after a dam collapsed during the storm. The workers, who were at the southern sector of the port near the Saudi border, had trouble breathing as dust particle measurements rose to 200 micrograms per cubic metre, a local official said, These levels were "different than average", he said without elaborating. The official said that all labourers in the southern sector of Aqaba were ordered to halt work as a precaution. Aqaba is situated on the Red Sea, next to the Israeli resort of Eilat and across from the Egyptian resort of Taba. In June, a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/jordan/2022/06/27/jordan-four-people-dead-70-injured-after-toxic-gas-leak-at-aqaba-port/">chlorine gas explosion at the Aqaba port</a> killed 13 people. Jordan's Meteorological Department said on Tuesday that Storm Daniel, which devastated parts of Libya in recent weeks, is now based off the north-eastern shores of Egypt, and is causing dust storms and low visibility in Aqaba. The storm is expected to also bring sporadic rain overnight and on Wednesday to northern and western areas of the kingdom, the department said. The storm caused destruction, mainly because of <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/2023/09/12/libya-floods-trapped/">flash floods</a>, in many towns in eastern Libya. In the city of Derna, floodwaters washed away neighbourhoods, authorities said. A senior Libyan aid official told the UN on Tuesday that the death toll was “huge”, expecting it to rise further in the coming days.
