Death toll in Derna city tops 2,000 after floods hit eastern Libya

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – The death toll from floods in the eastern Libyan city of Derna has risen above 2,000, local media reported on Monday.

Further thousands are believed to be missing, Libyan News Agency (LANA) cited Ossama Hamad, the head of the parliament-appointed government, as saying in an interview.

Hamad also said entire residential blocks were erased after they were swept away by the floods in Derna.

Early on Monday, the head of Libya’s Tripoli-based unity government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, declared all areas exposed to the storm and floods as “disaster zones.”

Dbeibeh also announced three days of national mourning for the victims of deadly floods that ravaged the North African country.

Storm Daniel swept several areas in eastern Libya on Sunday, most notably the cities of Benghazi, Bayda, and Al Marj, as well as Soussa and Derna, according to an Anadolu reporter in the field.