Deadly floods swept through northeastern Libya over the weekend, with the top official in the region warning that the toll could exceed 2,000 dead as rescue teams searched for survivors. The Libyan Red Crescent, a nonprofit aid group whose volunteers had helped evacuate residents, said late on Monday that more than 300 people had died in the floods in the port city of Derna in eastern Libya. And more than 5,000 to 6,000 were missing because of floods in the city, apparently caused by the collapse of dams above Derna, according to a spokesman for the Libyan National Army that controls eastern Libya said, according to The Associated Press. Exact figures on the scale of fatalities were difficult because of ongoing search efforts on Monday, a spokesman for authorities in that region said on Monday evening. Libya has been divided between an internationally recognized government based in Tripoli and a separately administered region in the east.

Source: Libya Today September 11, 2023 18:30 UTC