Heavy rain floods Tripoli, Libya, submerging cars and killing a bank employee

Mixed · 2Heavy rain flooded the streets of Libya's capital, Tripoli, on Tuesday 13 October, submerging cars and trapping people inside buildings. 1 2 Right · 1Jumhouria Bank announced that one of its employees died by electrocution as he was entering the bank's headquarters in Tripoli, after floodwaters submerged utility boxes. 2 Right · 1To reduce the danger, the General Electricity Company cut power in some Tripoli districts, security forces announced the closure of the capital's ring road, and the government ordered public services to launch urgent operations to drain the floodwater. 2

Mixed · 2Videos on social media and in local media showed motorists scrambling out of their cars at the last moment as they filled with water, and Al Jazeera reported videos of residents pleading for help and a security officer reportedly carrying a man with disabilities to safety. 2 1 Mixed · 2Hospitals were affected: Al Jazeera said floodwater inundated hospitals, and AFP reported that water entered the corridors of the central hospital, according to images shared on social media. 1 2 Right · 1The National Meteorological Center had forecast heavy rainfall across the whole north of the country on Monday evening and warned people living near wadis and in valleys. 2

Right · 1AFP noted that local authorities try to clear drainage networks and manholes before the rains, which are often clogged by desert sand, yet the streets are regularly flooded; on Tuesday morning municipal trucks and road services were pumping up mud and debris from the main roads. 2