By Houda Mzioudet and Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Tripoli, 8 September 2013:
Tripoli was this morning still clearing up from the Thursday night’s violent . . .[restrict]storm which killed two people, brought down an old building in the city centre, damaged power lines and overwhelmed the drainage system, leading to flash floods in some areas.
Sadat Elbadri, chairman of Tripoli Local Council confirmed to the Libya Herald that one of the two men who died had been electrocuted by a broken power line in Ain Zara while the second died when a tree fell on his car. Two other people had been slightly injured.
The collapse of part of the 90 year-old apartment block in Shawki Street caused no casualties but meant that ten families had to be rehoused in a local hotel said Elbadri. Other residents in the area complained that the collapsed had been condemned ten years ago, along with a number of others nearby, but nothing had been done by the authorities.
The flooding also knocked out traffic lights. Elbadri however was full of praise for volunteers who took it upon themselves to help control traffic at junctions, just like in the Revolution, he said. [/restrict]