Tripoli: Authorities in Eastern Libya said over 2,000 people were killed and thousands more were missing after a massive flood ripped through the city of Derna following a heavy storm and rain.
Ahmed Mismari, the spokesperson for the Libyan National Army (LNA) that controls eastern Libya, said in a televised news conference that the disaster came after dams above Derna had collapsed, "sweeping whole neighbourhoods with their residents into the sea".
Mismari put the number of missing at 5,000-6,000, according to Reuters.
Footage shared on social media shows submerged cars, collapsed buildings and torrents of water rushing through streets. Phone lines were down in Derna and pictures shared by the Red Crescent showed severely flooded streets.
Eastern Libya's Almostkbal TV broadcast footage that showed people stranded on the roofs of their vehicles calling for help and waters washing away cars.
"The missing are in the thousands, and the dead exceed 2,000," Osama Hamad told al-Masar TV. "Entire neighbourhoods in Derna have disappeared, along with their residents ... swept away by water."
"The missing are in the thousands, and the dead exceed 2,000," Osama Hamad told al-Masar TV.
"Entire neighbourhoods in Derna have disappeared, along with their residents ... swept away by water."
Hamad called on medical personnel and medical assistants to go to the badly affected city of Derna in eastern Libya to provide assistance immediately.
2000 dead, over 5000 missing after flood, storm hit Eastern #Libya#LibyaFloods #Derna #StormDaniel pic.twitter.com/LcEOI8oKaj— ummid.com (@ummid) September 12, 2023
2000 dead, over 5000 missing after flood, storm hit Eastern #Libya#LibyaFloods #Derna #StormDaniel pic.twitter.com/LcEOI8oKaj
Hospitals in the eastern city of Bayda were evacuated after severe flooding from rainfall caused by a heavy storm, videos shared by the Medical Center of Bayda on Facebook showed.
This rain is the result of the remnants of a very strong low-pressure system, which was officially named Storm Daniel by the national meteorological services in southeastern Europe, according to CNN.
In Tripoli, the three-person Presidential Council which functions as head of state in the divided country asked the international community to help.
"We call on brotherly and friendly countries and international organisations to provide assistance," it said.
The storm brought catastrophic flooding to Greece last week before moving into the Mediterranean and developed into a tropical-like cyclone known as a medicane.
These systems can bring dangerous conditions to the Mediterranean Sea and coastal countries, similar to tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic or typhoons in the Pacific.
The remains of the storm are affecting northern Libya and will slowly head east toward northern Egypt. Rainfall for the next two days could reach 50mm — this region averages less than 10mm across the whole of September.
“The United Nations in Libya is closely following the emergency caused by severe weather conditions in the eastern region of the country,” said the United Nations Support Mission in Libya in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
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