At least 150 people were killed, and a powerful Mediterranean storm-damaged homes and roads in eastern Libya on Sunday and Monday.
Ahmad Mesmari, a spokesman for the Libyan National Army, reported that seven soldiers were missing.
As Storm ‘Daniel’ slammed the cities of Benghazi, Sousse, Al Bayda, Al-Marj, and Derna, footage posted on social media showed individuals trying to find help while stranded on the roofs of their cars amid severe flooding.
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“At least 150 people were killed as a result of flooding and torrential rains left by storm Daniel in Derna, the Jabal al-Akhdar region and the suburbs of Al-Marj,” Mohamed Massoud, a spokesman for the Benghazi-based administration in Libya, told AFP.
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“This is besides the massive material damage that struck public and private properties,” he said.
He said that Oussama Hamad, the prime minister of the east-based government, and the head of a rescue committee, as well as other ministers, had travelled to Derna to evaluate the extent of the damage.
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Experts have described Storm Daniel as “extreme in terms of the amount of water falling in the space of 24 hours”. It has also recently struck parts of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, killing at least 27 people.
Rescue teams were also deployed in Derna, 900 kilometres (560 miles) east of Tripoli’s capital.
With a population of 100,000, the city lies in the wadi of a river bearing the same name.
