A powerful Mediterranean storm swept through eastern Libya, killing 25 people, according to medical sources, and destroying homes and roads. Earlier reports from government sources and eyewitnesses had at least three dead and two missing.

Videos posted on social media showed people climbing onto the roofs of their houses or onto their cars in an attempt to get help as the storm hit the cities of Benghazi, Sush, Al Bayda, Al Marj and Derna, causing severe flooding.

Authorities declared a state of extreme emergency, ordering the closure of schools and shops and imposing curfews as the storm battered the country yesterday, Sunday and today.

Four major oil export ports in Libya, Ras Lanuf, Zweitina, Brega and Es Sidra, were closed from Saturday afternoon and for three days, two engineers told Reuters.

The prime minister, head of the transitional government in Tripoli, Abdulhamid Dbeiba, said on Sunday that he had instructed all government agencies to “immediately address” the damage and flooding in eastern Libyan cities.

The United Nations in Libya said it would “provide urgent relief assistance in support of local and national efforts.”