Flooding in eastern Libya displaces at least 34,000 people

UN agency International Organization for Migration has said that at least 34,000 people have been displaced by floods in Libya's flood-affected areas. 

The port city of Derna, where Storm Daniel caused two dams to burst, has been most impacted by the floods, sources reported.

The death toll so far, has crossed 5,300. Shelter and non-food items are needed for the affected families, the International Organization for Migration said, adding that getting help wasn't easy as most roads in the region remain flooded, obstructed or destroyed.

Bodies are piling up at cemeteries and very few survivors can identify them, Tariq al-Kharraz, another representative of the eastern government told the Guardian. 

He also said that entire neighbourhoods and bodies have been swept out to sea.

The storm has taken out communications, making the task of finding survivors even harder. 

Libya has been in crisis since 2011 when long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed.

Gaddafi being killed led to the country being split into the internationally-recognised interim government in Tripoli (in the west), and the administration in Tobruk (in the east) in 2014.

Citizens were appealing on social media for information about missing relatives; many of them were angry over the local authorities’ failure to warn that the dams were at risk of bursting.