Sharjah 24 – Reuters: Authorities in eastern Libya said at least 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.
The head of the Red Crescent aid group in the region had earlier on Monday said Derna's death toll was at 150 and expected to hit 250. Reuters could not independently verify either figure.
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.
Osama Hamad, the head of a parallel eastern-based administration, told local television that more than 2,000 were dead and thousands more missing.
Storm Daniel swept in over the Mediterranean on Sunday, swamping roads and destroying buildings in Derna, and hitting other settlements along the coast, including Libya's second biggest city of Benghazi.
Photographs of Derna, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed a wide torrent running through the city centre where a far narrower waterway had previously flowed. Ruined buildings stood on either side.
Footage on social media and broadcast by eastern Libya's Almostkbal TV showed people stranded on the roofs of their vehicles calling for help and waters washing away cars.
Libya's eastern-based parliament declared three days of mourning. Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, prime minister of the interim government in Tripoli, also declared three days of mourning in all the affected cities, calling them "disaster areas".
Search-and-rescue operations were ongoing, witnesses said. Authorities declared a state of extreme emergency, closing schools and stores and imposing a curfew.
The United Nations in Libya said it was following the storm closely and would "provide urgent relief assistance in support of response efforts at local and national levels".
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