‘Towns were erased’: Libyan reporters on the ‘horrifying, harrowing’ aftermath of floods

Rescue teams and members of Libyan Red Crescent search for dead bodies at a beach in the aftermath of the floods in Derna. Photograph: Ayman Al-Sahili/Reuters

Early last week, Mohamed Eljabo, an independent journalist from Tripoli, travelled to the eastern provinces of Libya, passing through Derna, Al Bayda and Sousa, and what he saw he describes as “shock beyond comprehension”.

“I have visited these cities before and I know them well,” he says. “I expected to find these cities when I made the journey from Tripoli. I expected to see the neighbourhoods and towns. But these were gone. Erased. It was horrifying.”