Catastrophe city

"We heard that the dam had burst and the water had flooded the area," said the shocked survivor. "People were asleep and nobody was prepared... We have lost 30 people so far: 30 members of the same family. We haven't found anyone."

The flood hit the port city of Derna on Sunday night. There are fears that the death toll could reach 20,000.

The torrentAn overwhelming outpouring. caused five bridges and many buildings to collapse. Whole neighbourhoods were swept away.

Places near Derna were also badly affected. In the town of Bayda, there were 16 inches of rainfall in six hours;¹ 50 people were reported dead. In Susa, 47 miles away, cars were left piled on top of each other.

Derna is on a river which is normally dry at this time of year. But very heavy rain from Storm Daniel filled it with water which swept away two dams.

Storm Daniel had already hit Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey, killing at least 27 people. It then became a "medicane" - a tropical-like cycloneAn area of low atmospheric pressure accompanied by strong winds. which sometimes forms over the MediterraneanA sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean. It has the shores of Europe on one and the shores of north Africa on the other, as well as shoreline in Asia. . This grew stronger as it drew energy from the warm water. Finally, it drifted south and pounded north-eastern Libya with rain.

The two dams were old ones which had not been properly looked after because of Libya's civil warA war between people from the same country. . This has been raging since the fall of Colonel GaddafiMuammar Gaddafi ruled Libya from 1969 until his assassination in 2011. in 2011. The west of the country is ruled from TripoliThe capital city of Libya. by the official government, which is recognised by the United Nations. Derna, in the east, is under the control of a rebel group.

Although the country has great oil wealth, neither side has been keen to spend money on infrastructureThe basic systems and services that a country needs to keep it going..

Last year an expert at a Libyan university called for urgent work on the dams: "If a huge flood happens," he wrote, "the result will be catastrophic for the people of the wadiA valley or ravine that is dry unless there is exceptional rain. Used in some Arabic-speaking countries. and the city." His warning seems to have been ignored.

Yes: The rain was completely abnormal - Bayda generally receives just half an inch in September and 21 inches a year - and an unusually hot summer made the ground too dry to absorb it.  

No: If the dams had been properly maintained the chances are that the flood would have been prevented. Responsibility lies with those who would rather wage war than attend to ordinary Libyans' needs.

Or... This is a reminder that, like all disasters, the climate crisis will be much worse for the poor than for the rich and powerful - yet those are the people making the decisions about how to handle it.