The wall of water several stories high smashed into apartment buildings, drowning entire families in minutes
One man, Fadellalah, believes 13 members of his extended family died. He’s 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 wiped out neighborhoods and sent some of the dead into sea.
“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.Torrential rainwater that gushed down steep mountainsides and into the city killed thousands. Those who survived recount nightmarish scenes, with bodies piling up quicker than authorities can count them.
“They were screaming, help, help,” he said over the phone from a field hospital in Derna. “It was like a Hollywood horror movie.” The startling devastation has underscored Libya’s vulnerability. The oil-rich country has been divided between rival administrations, each backed by competing armed militias, for almost a decade. It has been rocked by conflict since a NATO-backed Arab Spring uprising toppled autocratic ruler Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
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