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https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/libya-floods-wiped-out-entire-family-trees-cb5432ff

Libya Floods Wiped Out Entire Family Trees

Clans in Derna that can trace their bloodlines back centuries lost scores of relatives in the catastrophe

Storm Daniel hit eastern Libya earlier this month and broke two dams near Derna, leading to widespread devastation in the port city.

By Chao Deng

and Ghassan Adnan | Photographs by Moises Saman/Magnum for The Wall Street Journal

Updated Sept. 27, 2023 12:02 am ET

A week after a deadly flood devastated Derna, Gaith Al Tashani, his sister and niece left the Libyan port city. As the only survivors in a 22-member family house, they couldn’t handle any more news about the dead.

Relatives in the larger Al Tashani clan believed more than 100 of its members were no longer alive, and as long as they were still in the city, the condolences kept on pouring in, he said. In the depths of their sorrow, the only thing that gave them comfort was that other families were going through the same thing.

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