TRIPOLI: More than 2,000 people are feared dead amid devastating flooding caused by Storm Daniel, which blasted across the country’s east, CNN reported.
According to Libyan News Agency, Osama Hamad, the president of Libya’s eastern parliament-backed administration, verified the death toll on Monday.
“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,” CNN reported citing the Libyan News Agency LANA.
Videos on social media showed drowned cars, collapsed buildings, and torrents of water surging across streets. Storm Daniel swept away entire areas and ruined homes in a number of coastal towns, with the city of Derna “cut off completely” after two old dams burst.
Moreover, the hospitals in the eastern city of Bayda were evacuated after significant flooding caused by a big storm, according to videos uploaded on Facebook by the Medical Centre of Bayda, CNN reported.
This rain is the consequence of the leftovers of a very strong low-pressure system, officially called Storm Daniel by southeastern Europe’s national meteorological organisations, according to CNN.
Last week, the storm caused devastating flooding in Greece before moving into the Mediterranean and transforming into a tropical-like cyclone known as a medicane. (ANI)