Rescuers and volunteers are working on Friday (September 15th) to search for thousands of people missing in Derna, after floods devastated the coastal city in eastern Libya.

The surge of water in the night from Sunday to Monday broke two dams upstream, causing a flash flood of the wadi that crosses the city and waves several meters high, reported residents.

According to an AFP photographer on site, the city center of Derna now looks like a ground flattened by a steamroller. Trees were uprooted, buildings and bridges destroyed. The damage is considerable and the authorities fear a very heavy human toll in the city which had 100,000 inhabitants before the disaster.

Different balance sheets

Ministers in the eastern Libyan government put the death toll at more than 2,600, and authorities fear the figure could rise given the number of missing. Residents say hundreds of bodies still lie under the tons of mud and rubble.

"The water was loaded with mud, trees, pieces of iron, the waves traveled for miles before invading the center of the city and taking away or burying everything that was in their way," Abdelaziz Bousmya, 29, who lives in the Chiha neighborhood, spared by the floods, told AFP.

"I lost friends, relatives. They are either buried under the mud or have been swept away by the waves to the sea," he said, his voice choked with emotion, estimating that 10% of the city's population perished.

According to him, the Libyan authorities have not taken the necessary measures to guard against the disaster, only ordering residents to stay at home in anticipation of Storm Daniel, which hit Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece before reaching the North African country on Sunday.

6,000 body bags

Since then, dozens of bodies have been discovered every day and sometimes buried in mass graves. Others are still stuck in houses or have been swept away to the sea that has dumped dozens, raising fears of outbreaks linked to the decomposition of corpses, according to health authorities.

The number of body bags distributed in the city illustrates the extent of the tragedy. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) alone reported that it had provided 6,000. The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had begun providing food aid to more than 5,000 families displaced by the floods, saying thousands of families in Derna were "without food or shelter".

The UN, the United States, the European Union and many countries in the Middle East and North Africa have pledged to send aid. Foreign rescue teams are already at work searching for possible survivors.

With AFP

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