Libya floods: A Mediterranean city has simply been swept away

When two dams burst near the Libyan city of Derna, nothing was going to stop a massive tragedy from unfolding. There had been warnings about the risks, however upheaval in the country meant they went unheeded

Rescuers from Turkey's IHH humanitarian aid group retrieving the body of a flooding victim in Derna, Libya, where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed thousands of people. Picture: IHH/AP 

The message couldn’t have been clearer. A research paper cited across numerous outlets this week, attributed to Abdelwanees AR Ashoor of Libya’s Omar Al-Mukhtar University, warned what could happen.

Last year, he wrote that repeated flooding threatened the dams built in the wadi, a usually dry riverbed, above the city of Derna. Last week, that Mediterranean coastal city was home to over 90,000 people.