“The missing number in the thousands and the dead exceed 2,000,” Osama Hamad, head of the government in the east, told al-Masar TV. “Entire neighborhoods of Derna have disappeared, along with their residents… swept away For the water”.
Hamad heads an internationally unrecognized government, which operates in areas of eastern Libya controlled by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA). Among the missing are seven members of the LNA, according to its spokesman, Ahmad Mismari.
“We have recorded at least 150 deaths (in Derna) after buildings collapsed. We expect the death toll to rise to 250. The situation is very catastrophic,” Kais Fhakeri of the Red Crescent told Reuters.
Saleh al-Obaidi, a resident of Derna, said he managed to flee with his family, although houses in a valley near the city had collapsed. “People were sleeping, they woke up and found their houses surrounded by water,” he told Reuters.
Ahmed Mohamed, another resident, said: “We were sleeping and when we woke up we saw the water surrounding the house. We are inside, trying to get out.”
Almostkbal TV broadcast images of a collapsed road between Susa and Shahat, where the archaeological site of Cyrene is located, founded by the Greeks and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Witnesses said the water level had reached three meters in Derna.
Four major Libyan oil ports, Ras Lanuf, Zueitina, Brega and Es Sidra, have been closed since Saturday night, two oil engineers told Reuters.
The United Nations in Libya said it is closely monitoring the storm and will “provide urgent relief assistance in support of local and national response efforts.”