The confirmed death toll has exceeded 5,300, Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesperson for the administration that controls the east of Libya told a state-run news agency late on Tuesday

Tariq al-Kharraz, another representative of the eastern government, said that entire neighbourhoods had been washed away, with many bodies swept out to sea. Rami Elshaheibi, the Libyan national communications officer for the World Health Organization, said the situation in Derna was “disastrous beyond comprehension”.

Hichem Chkiouat, the minister of civil aviation, said many of the dead remained where the water left them: “Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Chkiouat told reporters. “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25 per cent of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”

Video footage circulating on social media showed people pleading for help and screaming as muddy water engulfed their homes. Other video captured torrents sweeping away cars on streets, which had turned into rivers.

Desperate citizens were appealing on social media for information about missing relatives. Many were angry at the slow pace of the relief effort, and of local authorities’ failure to warn that the dams were at risk of bursting.