Massive floods sweep across areas of Libya, causing massive damage and deaths

The water flooded homes and roads, led to the collapse of bridges and disrupted traffic.

In Mizdah, floods washed away roads and closed the entrances to the city, which required the intervention of emergency teams with the support of security forces. The Libyan Ambulance and Emergency Service reported that two cases were transferred to Mizda General Hospital, while a number of people are still missing. Water entered many homes, submerged vehicles, and caused damage to public and private facilities, prompting the municipality of Mizda to appeal to residents to stay in their homes and stay away from valley streams.

As a result, the designated Minister of Local Government, Muhammad bin Ghalboun, granted the mayor of Mizda municipality broad powers to intervene immediately and use the emergency budget, at a time when the general hospital continued to receive casualties despite parts of it being affected by rainwater.

The repercussions of the disaster extended to the infrastructure, as the emergency team in Bani Walid announced the collapse of the bridge linking Mizdah and Tennay, which led to the complete blocking of the road and the isolation of the area, while the road between Tennay and Nesma witnessed a similar collapse that resulted in the fall of a number of cars.

In a related context, the Emergency Medicine and Support Center teams rescued 7 people in two separate incidents, one of which involved young men whose car got stuck in a valley stream, and the other of a family trapped by water in Wadi Maqrawa. The Security Directorate completely closed the Bani Walid-Tarhuna road due to the torrential flow of Wadi and Shatata.

The effects were not limited to the two cities, but the torrents flooded homes and roads in Nasma and other areas of the Western Mountain and central and southern Libya, forcing some families to flee to the highlands. The Southern Operations Room recorded 3 deaths from one family, including a child, as a result of torrential rains that swept through areas between Ghilan, Brak Al-Shati, and Al-Jufra.

The National Center of Meteorology renewed its warnings on Friday of continued thunderstorms that could reach very heavy rains, prompting the Ministry of Local Government to form an emergency operations room, and the Ministry of Health announced that it would raise the state of maximum alert in hospitals and health facilities in the affected areas.