Location proved the difference between life and death.įadelallah said all 13 deceased members of his family lived in a neighborhood near the river valley. Now, the dead are trapped under several meters (feet) of mud and detritus. “What descended was a torrent of debris killing everyone,” he said. Ibrahim Moussa said the nearest dam burst in the early hours of Monday. The city had no evacuation plans, and many residents said they didn’t know they were in danger until they heard the explosive sound of the dams rupturing. Footage captured by The Associated Press showed apartment buildings and office blocks carved open by the waters, and wrecked cars dotted the port city’s beach promenade. While many towns in eastern Libya saw deadly flooding, Derna, renowned for its white villas and palm trees, was the worst-hit. Those who survived recount nightmarish scenes, with bodies piling up quicker than authorities can count them. Torrential rains from Mediterranean storm Daniel gushed down steep mountainsides. They didn’t have a way to get out,” he said of his family. “No one expected this,” said Fadelallah, who asked that his surname not be used because he fears reprisal from government officials and armed groups who could view his story as criticism of their efforts. Thousands of others like Fadellalah are frantically trying to find out who survived the rain-swollen rampage.Īs a powerful storm bore down on his hometown, the information technology worker in Libya’s capital of Tripoli called his family Sunday to urge them to move to higher ground. Fadellalah has yet to hear about the fate of another 20, several days after two dams burst above the Libyan coastal city of Derna, unleashing epic floods that killed thousands, wiped out neighborhoods and washed some of the dead into the sea. One man lost at least 13 members of his extended family. DERNA – The wall of water several stories high smashed into apartment buildings, drowning entire families in minutes.
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