As the death toll from Libya's disastrous floods is expected to rise, a desperate search continues for thousands of missing people in the city of Derna.
storm daniel caused havoc throughout the Mediterraneanbut for Libya, the floods are the most fatal environmental disaster in the country's modern history, and Derna hit harder than any other city.
Derna Mayor Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi estimated that the death toll in Derna could reach 20,000, based on the number of districts destroyed by the flood.
A quarter of the city, which has 125,000 inhabitants, was annihilatedsaid the Minister of Civil Aviation of the administration that controls eastern Libya, Hichem Abu Chkiouat.
This is what made the devastation of Derna so extreme.
Dams collapse under pressure
Derna is divided in two by Wadi Derna, a seasonal river that runs south from the highlands and empties into the ocean through the city.
During heavy rains caused by Storm Daniel, two large dams collapsed upstream of the Wadi Derna, causing a torrent of water to burst into the center of the densely populated city.
When the dams broke, a torrent of water flooded the riverbed, leveling buildings and sweeping entire families into the sea.
Residents, many of whom were asleep at the time, say the only sign of danger was a loud bang, with no warning system or evacuation plan in place.
Survivors described a torrent that quickly rose to the upper floors of the buildings.
The riverbed is usually dry at this time of year.
The upper dam is located about 13 kilometers from Derna, where two river valleys converge, and the lower dam just a few hundred meters outside the city.
After the upper dam broke, the lower dam didn't stand a chance as the buildup of water hit it.
A video shared on social media showed how little remained of the first dam.
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"There was a dam," a voice is heard saying in the video, whose location has been confirmed by Reuters.
"Now it's dirt. There's no concrete at all. [The dam] It was 40 meters."
Risks were pointed out
The risks facing the city emerged long before the disaster struck.
A researcher had warned of the potential for destruction if the dam's infrastructure was not maintained.
In a paper published last year, hydrologist Abdelwanees AR Ashoor of Libya's Omar Al-Mukhtar University said repeated seasonal flooding of the river bed was a threat to Derna.
"If a major flood occurs, the result will be catastrophic for the people of the wadi and the city," the newspaper states.
He cited five floods since 1942 and called for immediate measures to ensure regular maintenance of the dams.
The dams were built by a Yugoslav company in the mid-1970s, so they are more than 50 years old.
divided country
It is still unclear whether deteriorating infrastructure or decisions by authorities contributed to the scale of the destruction, but Derna has been a battleground between rival powers for years.
Libya has experienced a decade of chaos since 2011 NATO-backed Arab Spring uprising who overthrew Libya's then-leader, Moammar Gaddafi, an autocrat who had been in power for more than four decades.
Since 2014, Libya has been divided into two rival administrations in the east and west of the country.
The internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) is headquartered in the capital Tripoli in western Libya, while a parallel administration operates in Benghazi in the east.
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Derna, located in the east, has been severely affected by fighting between the two administrations and was in the hands of Islamist extremists for a time, leaving its infrastructure in ruins.
While a ceasefire was introduced in 2020 and Libyans can now travel freely between the two sides, eastern factions have long complained about not getting their share of Libya's oil wealth.
A finance committee set up this year with members from across political divides aims to ensure funds are distributed fairly, but many ordinary Libyans say corruption is preventing wealth from trickling down.
