Storm Daniel caused devastation in Libya; More than 2000 people died

Delhi: Storm Daniel has wreaked havoc in Libya in the last two days. More than 2000 people have died due to the rains and floods after the storm, while thousands of people are reported missing. Water has reached roads and houses in many parts of the country.

Deadly storm winds and massive flooding have wreaked havoc in Libya over the past two days, with thousands of people estimated to have died, Reuters reports. On Monday, Osama Hamad, head of Libya's eastern government, said more than 2,000 people had been killed and thousands were missing in the coastal city of Derna. However, Hamad did not provide any source for his data.

Storm Daniel hit the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday, damaging roads and destroying buildings in Derna. It is being said that the storm has also affected other settlements near the coast including Benghazi, Libya's second largest city. Videos viral on social media and footage broadcast by AlmostCable TV in eastern Libya showed people trapped on the roofs of their vehicles pleading for help, while cars were seen floating in flood waters.

Osama Hamad told Al-Masr TV that the number of missing was in the thousands and the number of dead was more than 2,000. Let us tell you that Hamad leads a government that is not recognized internationally and which operates in the eastern areas of Libya which are controlled by Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA).

Saleh al-Obaidi, a resident of Derna, said he managed to escape with his family. He told Reuters that people were sleeping and when they woke up they found their homes surrounded by water. Another resident Ahmed Mohammed said that we were sleeping and when we woke up we saw that the house was surrounded by water. We are in and trying to get out.

AlmostCable TV posted pictures of a collapsed road between Sousse and Shahat, which is home to the Greek-founded and UNESCO-listed archaeological site of Cyrene. Witnesses said the water level in Derna reached three meters (10 feet).

Let us tell you that the eastern parliament of Libya announced three days of mourning. Abdulhamid al-Dabiba, the prime minister of the interim government in Tripoli, also declared three days of mourning, calling all affected cities disaster zones. Libya's four major oil ports, Ras Lanuf, Zuitina, Brega and Es Sidra, were closed from the evening of September 9 for the next three days, two oil engineers told Reuters.

Eyewitnesses said that search and rescue operations are underway. Authorities declared a state of extreme emergency, closed schools and shops and imposed a curfew. Meanwhile, the United Nations in Libya said it was closely monitoring the storm and would provide immediate relief assistance to support response efforts at the local and national level.