The death toll from devastating flooding in Libya’s eastern coastal city of Derna has risen to at least 11,300, according to a UN report released Saturday, even as continuing search efforts are expected to find more victims.
The sheer scale of this is mind-blowing to me. The very same storm passed over my head (I’m in Greece) and left a trail of heavy flooding that will take years to recover from, but what happened in Libya will affect an entire generation or even generations to come. This is the kind of impact we can expect from climate change,‘especially coupled with neglect of public infrastructure.
This was far less about climate change, and more about two dams not being maintained during an elongated period of political instability. Had the dams not failed when they were topped, it would have been a case of some buildings sitting in a river bed for a day or two. Property damage, but very low risk of loss of life.
The dams failing unleased a tsunami filled with boulders that smashed buildings, gathering more debris as it went.
The rain pulled the trigger, but it was not the cause.
The sheer scale of this is mind-blowing to me. The very same storm passed over my head (I’m in Greece) and left a trail of heavy flooding that will take years to recover from, but what happened in Libya will affect an entire generation or even generations to come. This is the kind of impact we can expect from climate change,‘especially coupled with neglect of public infrastructure.
This was far less about climate change, and more about two dams not being maintained during an elongated period of political instability. Had the dams not failed when they were topped, it would have been a case of some buildings sitting in a river bed for a day or two. Property damage, but very low risk of loss of life.
The dams failing unleased a tsunami filled with boulders that smashed buildings, gathering more debris as it went.
The rain pulled the trigger, but it was not the cause.