The warnings were clear but went unheeded.
Experts had long said that floods posed a significant danger to two dams meant to protect nearly 90,000 people in the northeast of Libya. They repeatedly called for immediate maintenance to the two structures, located just uphill from the coastal city of Derna. But successive governments in the chaos-stricken North African nation did not react.
"In the event of a big flood, the consequences will be disastrous for the residents of the valley and the city," Abdelwanees Ashoor, a professor of civil engineering, wrote in a study published last year in the Sabha University Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences.
The warnings came true in the early hours of Sept. 11, when residents of Derna woke up to loud explosions before floodwaters pounded the Mediterranean city. They found that two dams had broken, unleashing a wall of water two stories high that wreaked destruction and swept entire neighbourhoods out to sea.
The deluge proved deadly for thousands in just seconds, uprooting apartment buildings and washing away roads and bridges. More than 11,300 people were reported killed, including foreigners, and over 10,000 remained missing a week after the disaster, according to the Libyan Red Crescent and the United Nations.
Neglect and corruption are rife in Libya, a country of about 7 million people that lies on a wealth of proven oil and natural gas reserves. As of 2022, the country ranked 171 out of 180 on the transparency index compiled by Transparency International.
The North African nation has been in chaos since 2011, when an Arab Spring uprising, backed by NATO, ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed.
The country has since divided between rival administrations: one in the west backed by an array of lawless armed groups and militias, and the second in the east allied with the self-styled Libyan National Army, which is commanded by powerful Gen. Khalifa Hifter.
The dams, Abu Mansour and Derna, were built by a Yugoslav construction company in the 1970s above Wadi Derna, which divides the city. Abu Mansour, 14 kilometres (8.6 miles) from the city, was 74 metres (243 feet) high and could hold up to 22.5 million cubic metres of water. The Derna dam, also known as Belad, is much closer to the city and could hold 1.5 million cubic metres of water.
The dams, built from clay, rocks and earth, were meant to protect the city from flash floods, which are not uncommon in the area. Water collected behind the dams was used to irrigate crops downstream.
"Both dams had not been maintained for many years, despite repeated floods that struck the city in the past," said Saleh Emhanna, a geological researcher with the University of Ajdabia in Libya. "They were dilapidated."
The dams suffered major damage in a strong storm that hit the region in 1986, and more than a decade later a study commissioned by the Libyan government revealed cracks and fissures in their structures, Libya's general prosecutor, al-Sediq al-Sour, said late Friday.
At a news conference in the stricken city, al-Sour said prosecutors would investigate the collapse of the two dams, as well as the allocation of maintenance funds.
"I reassure citizens that whoever made mistakes or negligence, prosecutors will certainly take firm measures, file a criminal case against him and send him to trial," al-Sour said.
A report by a state-run audit agency in 2021 said the two dams hadn't been maintained despite the allocation of more than US$2 million for that purpose in 2012 and 2013. No work was done in the area, and the audit agency blamed the Ministry of Works and Natural Resources for failing to cancel the contract and give it to a company that would do the work.
A Turkish firm was contracted in 2007 to carry out maintenance on the two dams and build another dam in between. The firm, Arsel Construction Company Ltd., says on its website that it completed its work in November 2012.
Arsel was one of dozens of Turkish companies that had projects worth more than US$15 billion in Libya before the 2011 uprising. Many of these companies fled the Libya chaos before returning in the past couple of years, especially when the Turkish government stepped in to help the Tripoli-based government fend off an attack by Hifter's forces in 2019.
Arsel didn't respond to an email seeking further comment on the two dams. No third dam appeared to have ever been built, recent satellite photos show.
Victims of the flash flood are buried in Derna, Libya, on Sept. 15, 2023. For years, experts warned that floods pose significant danger to dams protecting nearly 90,000 people in northeast of Libya, repeatedly calling for immediate maintenance to the two structures outside the city of Derna. But successive governments in the divided and chaos-stricken North African nation did not heed their advice. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad, File)
Ahead of Mediterranean storm Daniel, authorities also gave contradicting messages. They imposed a curfew in Derna and other areas in the east. The municipality of Derna published statements on its website urging residents to evacuate the coastal areas for fear of a surge from the sea.
However, many residents said they received text messages on their phones urging them not to leave their homes.
The floods flattened Derna and officials have estimated that as much as a quarter of the city has been erased. Such devastation reflected the storm's intensity, but also Libya's vulnerability. The country's infrastructure has suffered widespread neglect despite Libya's oil wealth.
Al-Sour, the chief prosecutor, said prosecutors would probe local authorities in Derna as well as previous governments. He appointed investigators from different parts of the country to carry out the investigation.
East Libya's government suspended Derna's mayor, Abdel-Moneim al-Gaithi, pending an investigation into the disaster. The mayor didn't respond to phone calls seeking comment.
Since 2014, eastern Libya has been under the control of Hifter and his forces. The rival government based in the capital, Tripoli, controls most national funds and oversees infrastructure projects. Neither tolerates dissent.
Activists are calling for an international probe, fearing that a local investigation would be fruitless in a country largely ruled by armed groups and militias. The "predatory" behaviour of these groups and militias has resulted in "the misappropriation of Libyan State funds and the deterioration of institutions and infrastructure," according to a report by the UN panel of experts.
Libya has suffered from weak public institutions, internal conflict and deep instability, which allowed corruption to become rife with few to no checks on public sector abuse, according to Transparency International.
An online petition signed in recent days by hundreds of people, including Libyan rights groups and NGOs, said an independent international committee is needed to "uncover the causes of this catastrophe" and hold those responsible accountable.
Jalel Harchaoui, an expert on Libya at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, said an investigation into the disaster would face towering challenges since it could reach top officials in west and east Libya.
Such an inquiry "might potentially reach into the highest ranks of responsibility," he said. "This presents a unique challenge."
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky fire hydrant has been paved over, to the dismay of neighbors who turned the area into a hangout spot and goldfish shrine.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others help save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) has uploaded dozens of dashboard camera videos from the 1970s to their YouTube channel.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, the man who stabbed three people in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo, says he 鈥榓cted dumb鈥.
It's been a long and emotional journey for Manitoba residential school survivor Susan Caribou. Her niece, Tanya Nepinak, has been missing since September 2011 and has never been found.
A B.C. nurse has been suspended for one week for diverting narcotics from their workplace and using them personally, according to the regulatory body for the profession.
It's been a long and emotional journey for Manitoba residential school survivor Susan Caribou. Her niece, Tanya Nepinak, has been missing since September 2011 and has never been found.
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) has uploaded dozens of dashboard camera videos from the 1970s to their YouTube channel.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others help save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
A former Alberta teacher has been sentenced to four years for sexually abusing a student.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, the man who stabbed three people in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo, says he 鈥榓cted dumb鈥.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday formally apologized to native Americans for the 'sin' of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a 'blot on American history' in his first presidential visit to Indian Country.
Chinese hackers targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, his running mate, JD Vance, and people associated with the Democratic campaign of Kamala Harris, people familiar with the matter said Friday.
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
Pizza inadvertently laced with THC has apparently sickened dozens of people in Wisconsin.
A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky fire hydrant has been paved over, to the dismay of neighbors who turned the area into a hangout spot and goldfish shrine.
Israeli strikes on residential areas in southern Gaza killed 38 people on Friday, Palestinian health officials said, including 13 children from the same extended family.
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada strongly condemns a new surge in gang violence in Haiti.
Canada's long-held consensus on immigration is under threat but has not disappeared, the immigration minister said in an interview after announcing a major cut to the number of newcomers to Canada.
Children who have coughs that go on for weeks may have a type of walking pneumonia that鈥檚 been surging in the U.S. this year, and they may need a different antibiotic regimen to treat it, infectious disease experts say.
The number of people infected by the E. coli outbreak tied to McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburgers increased to 75 from 49, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.
Understanding the common symptoms of a cold or flu can help you make an informed choice about treatment. Here鈥檚 what to know about each illnesses鈥 symptoms and when it鈥檚 time for a doctor visit.
The search for a popular tortoise that went missing from his home in Piedmont is over after his owner said he came home.
Most people have accumulated a pile of data -- selfies, emails, videos and more -- on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
A Florida mother has sued artificial intelligence chatbot startup Character.AI, accusing it of causing her 14-year-old son's suicide in February and saying he became addicted to the company's service and deeply attached to a chatbot it created.
Phil Lesh, a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, died Friday at age 84.
A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
Tom Holland is getting ready to don his Spidey suit again. The fourth installment of the blockbuster series has been set for a July 2026 release, Sony Pictures said Friday.
Natural gas producers in Western Canada have white-knuckled it through months of depressed prices, with the expectation that their fortunes will improve when LNG Canada comes online in the middle of next year.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says the world has become more prone to supply shocks which create more risks to inflation, but the central bank is in a better place to deal with them now that inflation is under control.
The former longtime CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch pleaded not guilty Friday to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges.
Archeologists have uncovered a tiny house in Pompeii that is filled with elaborate 鈥 and sometimes erotic 鈥 frescoes, further revealing the ornate way in which Romans decorated their homes.
In early 2018, Amanda and Sunil started chatting, messaging back and forth on Instagram, introducing themselves and talking a little about their lives. Fast forward to August 2018, the couple got engaged on vacation in Thailand and a year later, after Amanda moved to India, got married.
A Toronto man who only recently checked a Lotto 6/49 lottery ticket he bought back in June is now $2.5 million richer.
A Sherpa teenager who's won mountaineering celebrity as the youngest person ever to summit the world's 14 highest peaks called for Sherpas to be recognized as athletes and expedition leaders as well as porters and guides.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored the winning goal 1:26 into overtime, and the Winnipeg Jets remained unbeaten this season with a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.
Broadway vs. Hollywood has produced the starriest Series in decades, if not ever.
A town in southern Alberta will be one of the first to let golf carts be driven on select roads as part of a provincial pilot program.
An increased risk of fire has prompted the recall of thousands of Honda hybrid vehicles in Canada.
A senior executive for Volkswagen in China has been deported for allegedly using cocaine and marijuana while on vacation in Thailand, according to Chinese authorities and German media reports.
A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.
Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.
He is a familiar face to residents of a neighbourhood just west of Roncesvalles Avenue.
A meteor lit up our region's sky last night 鈥 with a large fireball shooting across the horizon over Lake Erie at around 7:00 p.m.
Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.
A man who lost his life while trying to rescue people from floodwaters, and a 13-year-old boy who saved his family from a dog attack, are among the Nova Scotians who received a medal for bravery Tuesday.
A newly minted Winnipegger is hoping a world record attempt will help bring awareness for the need for more pump track facilities in the city.
A Springfield, Ont. man is being hailed a 'hero' after running into his burning home to save his two infant children.
Hortense Anglin was the oldest graduate to make her way across the platform at York University's Fall Convocation ceremony this week. At the age of 87, she graduated with an Honours degree in Religious Studies.
Video has surfaced on social media of a fight on a Burnaby golf course earlier this month, wherein a man appears to strike a fellow golfer with his club.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
Employers and the union representing foremen at British Columbia's ports will return to the negotiating table next week with a mediator in the latest push for a resolution in the labour dispute.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others help save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
Police say they are searching for a second suspect wanted in connection with the murder of a 37-year-old Brampton man who was shot to death in Toronto last month.
An infant has died and a woman is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after they were pulled from a burning home in the city's west end overnight.
The Alberta legislature is set to reconvene on Monday and the Danielle Smith government will be providing more details about its plans for the session.
An investigation into the death of a man in Calgary police custody earlier this month has concluded that officers did not contribute to his death and that he was cared for properly.
A section of construction work along Deerfoot Trail is now complete, but Calgarians can expect more work to continue on the busy roadway over the next few years.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say a 14-year-old boy from Bridgewater, N.S. is facing several charges in connection with threats made against a Catholic high school in eastern Ontario.
A Montreal man is charged with first-degree murder in connection to the stabbing death of a woman at a park in Ottawa鈥檚 south end on Thursday.
Ontario Provincial Police are investigating after a body was found in Perth, Ont. Friday afternoon.
Quebec's social services minister says he's outraged by reports that educators at a detention centre for youth in Montreal had sexual relations with minor detainees 鈥 and that one of the employees allegedly had a baby with a teenage resident.
Two minors were in court Friday to face charges after four teenagers were stabbed outside a Montreal high school.
A man and a woman are dead after a house fire west of the Island of Montreal in the municipality of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
A former Alberta teacher has been sentenced to four years for sexually abusing a student.
Although Edmonton City Hall is a stone鈥檚 throw from the Alberta Legislature, Oil City feels the need to hire a third party to get its voice heard by the UCP government.
A second person has been charged in connection with the death of a man in the Kingsway area earlier this year.
The GoFundMe page for the family of an employee found dead at a Halifax Walmart last weekend has paused donations after almost $200,000 was raised in roughly 24 hours.
Gas prices dropped slightly in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick overnight, while there was no change on Prince Edward Island for the second week in a row.
The Halifax Regional Municipality will soon be home to three new schools that will replace aging infrastructure and meet the new demands of the communities.
Winnipeg police are looking for a suspect after a woman's dorm room was broken into at the U of M and she was assaulted.
Repairs to the historic 110-year-old rail bridge at The Forks could come with a multi-million dollar price tag.
Winnipeg police are concerned about the well-being of a teenage girl who has been missing for two weeks.
Saturday will mark the end of the CFL regular season, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders will have their eyes on Winnipeg鈥檚 matchup versus Montreal to know if they have a chance of clinching the West Division.
The police watchdog group Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) was deployed to Fort Qu'Appelle after a person went into medical distress while in custody on Friday.
As the final day of voting for the Saskatchewan election inches closer, voters may be wondering when official winners will be declared.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, the man who stabbed three people in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo, says he 鈥榓cted dumb鈥.
All the evidence has now been called at the trial of Erick Buhr, who has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder in the death of his grandmother, Viola Erb.
People in the Weber Street East and Madison Avenue North area of Kitchener may need to find an alternate route this morning as police investigate a stabbing.
The Saskatchewan RCMP is releasing the names of two suspects arrested on Thursday for a violent vehicle theft that triggered a widespread police search.
Police have still not confirmed the identity of a body discovered in Prince Albert last week.
A 31-year-old man has been charged with arson following multiple fires that were deliberately set in the Mayfair neighbourhood on Thursday morning.
The Town of Cochrane plans to roll out its $10-lot program in a month or two.
In Sudbury on Friday, a flag-raising and a proclamation was held to kick off the 2024 poppy campaign.
Two people 鈥 one from Timmins, the other from Kapuskasing -- have been fined more than $7,000 for camping violations, including empty septic tanks directly onto the ground.
London police have issued a warning to the public following an increased number of overdoses in the area of Queens Avenue and Adelaide Street North.
Around 7:20 p.m. on Thursday, emergency services were called to the 700 block of Exeter Road after getting a 911 call about an unresponsive man.
A new staff report calls for homeless encampments to be allowed even closer to residential neighbourhoods, reducing the buffer zone from 100 metres to 25 metres.
Several students have been banned from being spectators at school sporting events, and others suspended from school, after verbal and physical exchanges at a high school soccer game.
As Barrie faces a housing shortfall, builders are looking to the skies, developing condo towers, including one that stands out unlike anything the city has ever seen.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford blasted a recent vote by County of Simcoe council to instill pay increases for councillors during an unrelated news conference Friday morning.
The Windsor Police Service is investigating a suspicious death in south-central Windsor.
A Harrow school is memorializing two students and their mother, who were tragically killed in June.
With Halloween just around the corner, there are plenty of spooktacular events in Windsor-Essex this weekend.
Mounties in Nanaimo are asking the public for help as they investigate a fatal hit-and-run collision that killed a man southeast of the city Thursday evening.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
Employers and the union representing foremen at British Columbia's ports will return to the negotiating table next week with a mediator in the latest push for a resolution in the labour dispute.
Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.
A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.
Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.
With Halloween less than a week away, organizations in Lethbridge are preparing to get in on the trick-or-treating fun.
The City of Lethbridge is bringing forward a water conservation policy, the first of its kind for the city.
The Royal Canadian Legion General Stewart Branch is getting ready to launch its annual poppy campaign this weekend.
The Anishinabek Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police are investigating the circumstances around a death in Fort William First Nation.
A 44-year-old suspect has been charged after police in Sault Ste. Marie spotted a vehicle running in a parking lot Thursday night.
Two Americans who veered into the Canadian side of Lake Huron and caught fish during the National Walleye Tour last year have been fined by an Ontario court.
Investigators found the remains of a 77-year-old American man on Wednesday at the scene of a fire that destroyed a hotel in western Newfoundland earlier on the weekend.
Police in western Newfoundland say a 77-year-old man visiting the province from Kansas is missing after a fire at a hotel in Deer Lake, N.L.
At 2 p.m. on Thursday, the scene at the Lions Club in Clarenville, N.L., rivalled any rowdy St. John's bar that thumps with music late on a weekend night.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at 愛污传媒. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop.聽Read about us.
