Thousands of people are feared dead and 10,000 are missing in Libya after a storm in the Mediterranean burst dams and washed entire coastal neighborhoods out to sea.
Storm Daniel pounded the North African country Sunday night, unleashing heavy rainfall that caused flash flooding. But the major destruction would come hours later, when two dams located on the Wadi Derna river burst, creating a wall of water that destroyed everything in its path. The greatest devastation was seen in the port city of Derna, which is home to 90,000 people.
More than 5,300 people are feared dead and another 10,000 missing in Libya after a storm in the Mediterranean caused dams to burst — washing entire coastal neighborhoods out to sea.
The death toll in the city of Derna alone is now more than 5,300, a government spokesman said, according to the Associated Press. An official from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that the death toll is “huge” and “might reach thousands,” Reuters reported.
“The challenges are ranging between access to basic health facilities for health services, shelter and shelter management, food and non-food items,” Tamer Ramadan, the leader of the IFRC in Libya, said.
