Authorities in eastern Libya said at least 2,000 people were killed and another 5,000 to 6,000 were missing after widespread flooding swept through the city of Derna due to heavy storms and rain.
Source: NBC News
Details: A spokesman for the Libyan National Army, which controls eastern Libya, Ahmed Mismari, told a news conference that the disaster occurred after the collapse of dams above the city of Derna. The water “washed away entire neighborhoods with their inhabitants into the sea.”
Mismari said the number of missing people ranged from 5,000 to 6,000.
Libya is politically divided between East and West, and government services have collapsed since the 2011 uprising. The internationally recognized government in Tripoli does not control the eastern territories.
The head of the parallel eastern administration, Osama Hamad, told local television that more than 2,000 people had died and thousands were missing: “Entire areas of Derna have disappeared along with their inhabitants… swept away by water.”
Storm Daniel swept over the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday. It swamped roads and destroyed houses in Derna and hit other communities along the coast, including Libya’s second-largest city Benghazi.
Background:
Previously, Storm Daniel raged in Greece, where flooding began after heavy rainfall on Wednesday. Some areas received double the average annual rainfall in 12 hours, particularly in Athens. Residents of some villages were forced escape on the roofs, because the houses were almost completely submerged under water. On September 11 it became known that the number of confirmed deaths from recent floods in central Greece rose to 15 after the bodies of four people previously considered missing were found on Sunday.
2023-09-11 22:47:34
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