The Red Cross estimates that around 10,000 people are missing after the severe storm and devastating floods in civil war-torn Libya. The number of deaths is also high: According to authorities, more than 1,000 victims have been rescued in the massively affected city of Derna alone.
“The situation is very catastrophic. There are bodies everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” the aviation minister of the eastern ruling government, Hichem Chkiuat, told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday. He expects that the final number of victims will be “very, very high”. “I’m not exaggerating when I say that 25 percent of the city has disappeared.” Many buildings have collapsed.
More than 2,000 people feared dead in Libya after ‘catastrophic and unprecedented’ flooding
More than 2,000 people in Libya are feared dead in severe flooding, according to a Libyan leader, as Storm Daniel swept through the eastern part of the country.
The head of Libya’s eastern parliament-backed government, Osama Hamad, announced the death toll on Monday, according to a report from state news organization Libyan News Agency.
“Osama Hamad said in press statements that residential neighborhoods disappeared after the torrents swept them into the sea along with thousands of their residents, and the situation is catastrophic and unprecedented in Libya,” LANA reported.
Footage shared on social media shows submerged cars, collapsed buildings and torrents of water rushing through streets.
edition.cnn.com/2023/09/11/africa/libya-flooding-storm-daniel-climate-intl/index.html
1,500 bodies recovered after Storm Daniel causes catastrophic flooding in Derna, Libya, officials say. More than 5,000 people still missing pic.twitter.com/kH6Mcqj8w5
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