The head of the parallel government established in Benghazi, Osama Hamad, said today that the death toll from the floods in Libya exceeds two thousand. In an interview he gave to the Al-Masar television network, he characteristically said: “Thousands are missing, more than 2,000 are dead.” “Entire districts of Derna have been wiped out… along with the residents, who were swept away by the rushing waters,” he added.

For his part, Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman for the Libyan National Army that controls eastern Libya, said at a press conference that the missing were estimated at 5,000-6,000.

Three areas of Cyrenaica, the country’s eastern coastal region, have been declared a state of natural disaster due to flooding and Libya’s presidential council has appealed for help to the international community, according to a statement issued this evening.

Images broadcast by eastern Libya’s Almostakbal TV showed people trapped on rooftops or in cars, desperately calling for help. According to witnesses, the height of the water had reached three meters in some parts of the city of Derna.

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

The prime minister, head of the transitional government in Tripoli, Abdulhamid Dbeiba, said yesterday Sunday that he had instructed all government agencies to “immediately address” the damage caused by the floods in the cities of eastern Libya.

The UN mission in Libya said the UN would “provide urgent humanitarian assistance in support of operations at local and national levels” to relieve those affected.