Thousands of people were killed last week when devastating floods caused by Storm Daniel’s heavy rainfall hit Libya, a failed state that is still recovering from years of civil war. Record rainfall was recorded in the hours leading up to the floods on Sept. 10, with winds reaching 80 mph in some parts of the country. For many, this was just another downpour, but for the 90,000 residents of the Mediterranean port city of Derna, it became a catastrophe they had to fend off by themselves. Two poorly maintained dams in the outskirts of the city failed, sending millions of cubic meters of floodwater all through downtown and washing entire neighborhoods into the sea. Here’s how unusually heavy rainfall destroyed the city.
