Thousands of people have lost their lives and about 10,000 reported missing after devastating floods in Libya.
This was disclosed by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Tuesday after Storm Daniel forced torrential rains and floods across the Northern African country, destroying homes and properties.
“We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far,” the head of the IFRC delegation in Libya Tamer Ramadan said.
The worst-affected place is the port of Derna, much of which is under water after two dams and four bridges collapsed.
“We were asleep, and when we woke up, we found water besieging the house. We are inside and trying to get out,” a resident of Derna, Ahmed Mohamed, told reporters on Monday.
The United Nations (U.N.) in Libya has also said it was closely monitoring the storm and would “provide urgent relief assistance in support of response efforts at local and national levels”.
Mr Ramadan added that “The death toll is huge and might reach thousands.”
Italy and Turkey have received Libya’s requests for aids as the damage from the deadly floods worsens.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was quoted as saying, “The Italian government is responding immediately to requests for support for the floods in eastern Libya: an assessment team is already on its way, co-ordinated by our civil protection unit.”
The Prime Minister of the east Libyan government, Ossama Hamad, had reported over 2,000 deaths in the port of Derna on Monday.
Derna has become inaccessible and local media reported that the situation there was catastrophic with no electricity or communications.
The prime minister announced Monday a three-day period of mourning and ordered flags across the country to be lowered to half-mast.
A spokesman for the Benghazi-based administration in Libya, Mohamed Massoud, told AFP, “At least 150 people were killed as a result of flooding and torrential rains left by storm Daniel in Derna, the Jabal al-Akhdar region, and the suburbs of Al-Marj.”
