Heavy rains have triggered severe floods and mudslides in northern Turkey, killing at least 17 people and forcing thousands to leave their homes and shelter in student dormitories.
Rescue efforts continued on Thursday after torrential rain hit the Black Sea coastal provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop and Samsun.
Images on television and social media showed stranded villagers being plucked off rooftops by helicopter and bridges collapsing under the force of the rushing water below.
Turkey‘s disaster response authority said 15 people had lost their lives in Kastamonu and two in the neighbouring region of Sinop. One person was still missing.
The emergencies authority said more than 1,000 rescuers were working in the region while Turkish Red Crescent teams were distributing food packages and hot meals.
Officials said more than 5,000 places had been allocated in student dormitories to shelter those displaced by the floods.
Dozens of villages suffered electricity and mobile phone service disruptions as masts and power lines went down.
“From a meteorological point of view, we are perhaps facing a disaster that we have not seen in 50 or 100 years,” agriculture and forestry minister Bekir Pakdemirli said of the flooding and heavy rains.
Turkey has been grappling with drought and a rapid succession of natural disasters that world scientists believe are becoming more frequent and violent because of climate change.
The downpours along Turkey’s northern coast came as firefighters had almost managed to control wildfires in the south that have killed at least eight people since late July. Thousands had been forced to evacuate as the country battled more than 200 blazes.
The worst-hit flood area was Kastamonu, where the town of Bozkurt was inundated and dozens of cars were swept away by raging waters. The Kastamanu governor’s office denied reports that the flooding was caused by a burst dam and there were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Still, the force of the flooding took locals by surprise.
“Within 10 minutes, everywhere was flooded,” restaurant owner Nuri Ersoz told Halk TV television. He said he feared for his cousin’s life since he believed she may have been trapped in her home.
Interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, who traveled to Kastamonu, said waters have surged “three or four meters high” in some of the flood-hit areas and that many people were waiting to be rescued from rooftops.
“Evacuations and search-and-rescue efforts are continuing,” he said. “The gendarmerie, the (army) are trying to deploy all of their helicopters to the region.”
In Bartin, the flash floods demolished several houses and at least two bridges and caused the partial collapse of a road leading to the neighbouring province of Karabuk, the private Turkish news agency DHA reported.
At least 13 people were injured when a bridge caved in, Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency said.
Turkey’s north is prone to flash floods in the summer when rains are particularly strong. Last year at least five people were killed in the floods in the region.
With Reuters, Associated Press and Agence-France Press