At least 150 people were killed when freak floods hit eastern Libya, officials said on Monday, after Storm Daniel swept the Mediterranean, its torrential rains earlier lashing Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece. While media outlets in eastern Libya have largely picked up on Hamad’s remarks, separate tolls reported from various areas add up to far lower figures. A Derna city council official described the situation in the city as “catastrophic” and in need of “national and international intervention”, speaking to the local TV channel Libya al-Ahrar. The storm struck eastern Libya on Sunday afternoon, hitting especially the coastal town of Jabal al-Akhdar but also Benghazi, where a curfew was declared and schools closed for several days. In neighbouring Egypt, authorities called for caution on the northern coast which borders eastern Libya, and announced they were beginning preparations to minimise the impact of Storm Daniel.

Source: Libya Today September 11, 2023 19:04 UTC