Derna dam collapses
| Date | 10–11 September 2023 |
|---|---|
| Location | Wadi Derna, Derna District, Libya |
| Cause | Storm Daniel, global warming, engineering flaws, policy errors, possible military damage from preceding battles |
| Deaths | 5,923 (confirmed) 14,000–24,000 (estimated) |
| Missing | 8,000+ |
| Property damage | Two dams collapsed, thousands of properties destroyed |
The Derna dam collapses were the catastrophic failures of two dams in Derna, Libya, on the night of 10–11 September 2023, in the aftermath of Storm Daniel. The collapse of the Derna Dam and the Abu Mansour Dam released an estimated 30 million cubic meters (39 million cubic yards) of water, causing flooding downstream as the Wadi Derna overflowed its banks. The floods partially destroyed the city of Derna. The official death toll was 5,923, but as many as 24,000 people may have died. The event was the second-deadliest dam failure in history, after the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure in China.