They survived Libya’s floods, but lost their homes

STORY: Ahmad al-Hawal walks on rubble near his flood-damaged house in Libya.

“It came from here and completely washed away the valley, it hit the wall and destroyed everything around it.”

JOURNALIST: “It destroyed everything?”

“It destroyed everything.”

It was the worst natural disaster in the country’s modern history, smashing down buildings and sweeping people out to sea.

Hawal says the area he called home in Al Bayda is completely uninhabitable, leaving his and several neighboring families without shelter.

“My life before was stable, everything was 100% good – I had my house and my family, but now there is nothing, there is no life anymore. Today I am looking for a house, an accommodation, even what was habitable before is not anymore.”

In a seaside town nearby, Saad Rajab Mohammed Al Hassi surveys his damaged home too.

He says his wife was preparing dinner for their three children when the flood came sweeping into their house…

bringing large blocks of wood and cement inside.

“It’s not easy for a man to go through this. It’s not easy. Only God knows what we are going through. We are back to square one… No one helps you. Even the government did not help us, it did not help us. We are left out on the streets… The government doesn’t even have the resources to help. Thankfully, we Libyans are as one, those from Tripoli, Misrata and the south, all came to help.”

Thousands were killed in the disaster and many thousands more remain missing.