#‘Entire neighbourhoods swept into sea with their residents’ as dams break

Authorities in eastern Libya said at least 2,000 people were killed and thousands more were missing after a massive flood ripped through the city of Derna following a heavy storm and rain.

The head of the Red Crescent aid group in the region had earlier on Monday said Derna’s death toll was at 150 and expected to hit 250. Reuters could not independently verify either figure.

Ahmed Mismari, the spokesperson for the Libyan National Army (LNA) that controls eastern Libya, said in a televised news conference that the disaster came after dams above Derna had collapsed, “sweeping whole neighbourhoods with their residents into the sea”.

Mismari put the number of missing at 5,000-6,000.

Libya is politically divided between east and west and public services have crumbled since a 2011 Nato-backed uprising that prompted years of conflict. The internationally recognised government in Tripoli does not control eastern areas.