AT least 150 people were killed in freak floods in eastern Libya as a result of storm Daniel that has swept the Mediterranean, said Mohamed Massoud, a spokesman for the Benghazi-based administration in Libya, today.

Images filmed by residents of the disaster area showed massive mudslides, collapsed buildings and entire neighbourhoods submerged under water.

“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 told AFP.

“This is besides the massive material damage that struck public and private properties,” he said.

He said the east-based government’s Prime Minister Oussama Hamad, the rescue committee’s head, and other ministers travelled to Derna to evaluate the extent of the damage.

Hamad’s government – which rivals a United Nations-brokered, internationally recognised transitional administration in Tripoli – today declared Derna a “disaster area”.

Experts have described storm Daniel – which also struck parts of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria in recent days, killing at least 27 people – as “extreme in terms of the amount of water falling in a space of 24 hours”.

The storm struck eastern Libya yesterday afternoon, notably the coastal town of Jabal al-Akhdar, but also Benghazi, where a curfew was declared and schools closed for several days.

Rescue teams were also deployed in Derna, 900km east of the capital Tripoli.

East Libyan authorities had “lost contact with nine soldiers during rescue operations” in the city, said Massoud.

The UN mission in Libya today said on X it was “closely following the emergency caused by severe weather conditions in the eastern region of the country”.

It expressed its condolences over the victims of the floods and said it was “ready to support efforts by local authorities and municipalities to respond to this emergency and provide urgent humanitarian assistance”.

Hundreds of residents were believed to be trapped in difficult-to-reach areas as rescuers, backed by the army, tried to go to their aid.

Libya, sitting on Africa’s largest known oil reserves, was plunged into chaos following the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that toppled and killed former dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Two rival governments based in the west and east have been vying for power, with deadly conflict occasionally erupting. – AFP, September 11, 2023.