The sheer numbers of people dead or unaccounted for in the Libyan city of Derna is overwhelming survivors, who say they had minutes to get away before the coastal city was devastated by a tsunami-like torrent.

A Sky News TV crew has reached the devastated port city where people have been using their bare hands to dig for loved ones.

Reports suggest almost a quarter of the city has been washed away, following a massive flood fed by the breaching of two dams in heavy rains.

Libya floods – latest updates: Desperate search for survivors continues amid devastation

Untold numbers could be buried under drifts of mud and debris, including overturned cars and chunks of concrete, metres high.

Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford said: “We are pretty much near the centre of Derna, quite near the port, and everywhere you look here – it’s 360° destruction.

“Where we are standing is the first floor of a nine-storey block of flats – it’s just been levelled.

“Behind me are many more blocks of flats – all pancaked. You can just see the foundations left here.

“The force of the water was so strong from the two dams which collapsed that the locals say it sounded like an explosion, after explosion, after explosion.

“Massive tonnes of rocks, whole apartment blocks, just swept away. There are three bridges that have been swept away. Building after building has been levelled or smashed through.

“They had – according to those who survived – about 20 minutes to get out of the away of this torrent of water.”

A UN official has said most casualties could have been avoided.

“If there would have been a normal operating meteorological service, they could have issued the warnings,” World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) head Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva on Thursday.

“The emergency management authorities would have been able to carry out the evacuation.”

Daniel, an unusually strong Mediterranean storm, caused deadly flooding in towns across eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna.

Those in the worst-affected region are calling it a disaster of “biblical proportions” – with the number of fatalities soaring to 11,300, according to the Libyan Red Crescent.

Though the number killed is still not known.

Marie el-Drese, secretary-general of the aid group, said a further 10,100 people have been reported missing in the Mediterranean city.

Sky’s Africa correspondent Yousra Elbagir, reporting from one of the dams that collapsed, said it is now known as “the dam of death”.

She said though it has been days since the disaster struck, residents are still in a complete state of shock – with some survivors coming to the site to look at the sheer scale of the tragedy the dam unleashed on them in a matter of moments.

Morgues are overwhelmed as people race to bury the dead.

Most of the dead have been buried in mass graves outside Derna, while others are being transferred to nearby towns and cities.

The flooding swept away entire families on Sunday night and exposed vulnerabilities in the oil-rich country, which has been mired in conflict since a 2011 uprising that toppled long-ruling dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

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