![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/libya-floods-why-damage-to-derna-was-so-catastrophic/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/131078198_hhgjgcrg.jpg&description=AFP More than 5,000 people are known to have died and thousands more are missing after devastating floods swept through the Libyan port city of Derna. Entire neighbourhoods disappeared into the sea as a huge tsunami-like torrent of water swept through the city. Whole families were washed away, according to a Libyan journalist who has been speaking to survivors in the city, and who described the situation as "beyond catastrophic". BBC Verify and the BBC's visual journalism team have been analysing some of the reasons why the floods caused such catastrophic damage in Derna. The water was brought by Storm Daniel which reached Libya on Sunday. The storm - a Mediterranean hurricane-like system known as a medicane - brought more than 400mm of rain to parts of the north-east coast in a 24-hour period. That is an extraordinary deluge of water for a region which usually sees around 1.5mm of rain throughout the whole of September. Libya's National Meteorological Centre says it is a new rainfall record. It's too early to attribute with certainty the severity of this storm to rising global temperatures. However, climate change is thought to be increasing the frequency of the strongest medicanes. Prof Liz Stephens, an expert in climate risks and resilience at Reading University, says scientists are confident that climate change is supercharging the rainfall associated with such storms. The Wadi Derna river runs from Libya's inland mountains, through the city of Derna and into the Mediterranean. It is dry for much of the year, but the unusually heavy rain overwhelmed two crucial dams and destroyed several bridges. Residents of the city, who had been ordered by the local authorities to stay in their homes, reported hearing a loud blast before the city was engulfed in water. "The dams would have held back the water initially, with their failure potentially releasing all the water in one go. "The debris caught up in the floodwaters would have added to the destructive power," says Pr){kind=link}
More than 5,000 people are known to have died and thousands more are missing after devastating floods swept through the Libyan port city of Derna.
Entire neighbourhoods disappeared into the sea as a huge tsunami-like torrent of water swept through the city.
Whole families were washed away, according to a Libyan journalist who has been speaking to survivors in the city, and who described the situation as “beyond catastrophic”.
BBC Verify and the BBC’s visual journalism team have been analysing some of the reasons why the floods caused such catastrophic damage in Derna.
The water was brought by Storm Daniel which reached Libya on Sunday.