Death Toll expected to rise as thousands more people are still missing. Rescue efforts moving at a slow pace due to both logistical and operational challenges.

The Storm Daniel induced floods that hit Libya from the 10th of September swept across neighborhoods in Derna City, causing massive distruction to houses, access roads, and vital infrastructure. Libya is a war torn country already suffering from an ailing economy, high levels of poverty and a fragile governance architecture characterised by two separate governments (one UN recognized, and the other a Rebel-led one).

The floods have so far left more than 6000 people dead according to official figures, with the number expected to rise more than three times according to the Mayor of Derna. With thousands still missing and more bodies still getting recovered buried under debris, collapsed houses, and even from the sea, the scale of devastation is too great to fathom.

One man who struggles to speak through teary eyes is heard saying he has lost his wife and child to the floods.

Hichem Abu Chkiouat, the civil aviation minister in Libya’s eastern government, indicated that more than a quarter of the city of Derna has disappeared as a result of the flood while speaking to Reuters.

Climate Change is to blame for the severity and intensity of extreme weather events according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and is likely to lead to more similarly intense events in the coming years. In the first week of September, Africa held it’s first ever Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, and the topic of Loss and Damage as well as Building Resilience to Climate Change in the continent was at the fore.