According to one of Libya’s leaders, up to 2,000 people are thought dead in the North African country after the Mediterranean storm Daniel wreaked havoc on homes and entire neighborhoods in numerous coastal cities. 38 deaths from the weekend flooding were officially confirmed, according to health officials.
The worst-hit city, Derna, was left off the list since it was now impassable. Major destruction was visible in a video released online by Derna residents.
Along Wadi Derna, a watercourse that flows through the heart of the city after descending from the mountains, entire residential blocks have been obliterated.
Apartment complexes with multiple stories that were originally set back from the river were now half submerged in mud.
Prime Minister Ossama Hamad of the east Libyan government stated that thousands of people were missing and thousands were presumed dead in Derna in a phone interview with al-Masar television station on Monday.
Derna, he claimed, had been designated a disaster area.
The town’s primary medical facility stated that at least 23 people had been reported deceased in the eastern town of Bayda.
The Ambulance and Emergency Authority stated that seven more people have died in the coastal town of Susa in northern Libya.
The minister claimed that seven additional deaths had been recorded in the cities of Shahatt and Omar al-Mokhtar.
According to the Libyan Red Crescent, one of its employees went missing while trying to rescue a stranded family in Bayda.
According to local media, dozens of other people were reported missing, and authorities believe that they may have perished in the floodwaters that obliterated homes and other properties in many towns in eastern Libya.
The area of Derna, which was the hardest hit, has become inaccessible, and local media stated that there is a grave scenario there due to a lack of connectivity and energy.
Social media videos show residential buildings and other properties being destroyed by floodwaters.
More than 5,000 individuals are anticipated to be missing in Derna, according to Essam Abu Zeriba, the interior minister for the east Libyan government.
According to him, many of the victims were carried off toward the Mediterranean.
He urged regional and international organizations to move quickly to aid the city in a phone interview that aired on the Saudi-owned satellite news channel Al-Arabiya.
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