More Than 5K Feared Dead in Libya Floods

UPDATE Sep 12, 2023 6:38 PM CDT

Emergency workers uncovered more than 1,500 bodies in the wreckage of Libya's eastern city of Derna on Tuesday, and it was feared the toll could surpass 5,000 after floodwaters smashed through dams and washed away entire neighborhoods of the city, the AP reports. Outside help was only just starting to reach Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the disaster struck. The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to the coastal city of some 89,000. At least one official put the death toll at more than 5,000. The Red Crescent says around 10,000 people have been reported missing, reports the BBC. Rescue teams are struggling to retrieve bodies that were swept out to sea, officials say.

Sep 12, 2023 12:38 AM CDT

Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation, the AP reports. As many as 2,000 people were feared dead, one of the country's leaders said Monday, and thousands more are reportedly missing. The destruction appeared greatest in Derna, a city formerly held by Islamic extremists in the chaos that has gripped Libya for more than a decade and left it with crumbling and inadequate infrastructure. Libya remains divided between two rival administrations, one in the east and one in the west, each backed by militias and foreign governments.

The confirmed death toll from the weekend flooding stood at 61 as of late Monday, according to health authorities. But the tally did not include Derna, which had become inaccessible, and many of the thousands missing there were believed carried away by waters after two upstream dams burst. Video by residents of the city posted online showed major devastation. Entire residential areas were erased along a river that runs down from the mountains through the city center. Multistory apartment buildings that once stood well back from the river were partially collapsed into the mud. (Elsewhere in North Africa, a devastating earthquake also killed more than 2,000 people.)