Floods in Turkey kill 16 people in earthquake-affected provinces

 

Floods caused by torrential rains killed at least 16 people in areas devastated by last month’s catastrophic earthquake, according to Turkish authorities.

Floods hit two Turkish provinces, increasing the misery for thousands of people who were left homeless because of the destructive earthquakes. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that the flash floods turned streets in Adiyaman and Sanliurfa provinces into rivers. According to Turkish media, the floods killed 11 people in Sanliurfa, which is located north of the Syrian border. A child died in Adiyaman.

The floods swept away cars and inundated homes. Reportedly, five Syrian nationals’ bodies were found inside a flooded basement apartment.

Floods turned a container home, sheltering a family of earthquake survivors, into rivers. Two people drowned because of excessive water in the container home.

Television footage showed rescuers, using a rope, lifting a man to safety from the inundated underpass. Reportedly, another person was also pulled out of the floodwaters by people.

Melek Yildirim told the state-run Anadolu Agency, “When I woke up, our houses were underwater.” People said that the situation was miserable. Yildirim further said, “May God not allow us to live through this again.”

Adiyaman and Sanliurfa provinces in Turkey were hit by a powerful magnitude of 7.8 earthquakes on February 6, which killed over 48,000 people in Turkey and an estimated 6,000 people in northern Syria. Floods have increased the problem of people living in the Adiyaman and Sanliurfa provinces.

According to Turkish media, many people were also evacuated from the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital in Sanliurfa, a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Sanliurfa Province.

According to Turkey’s disaster management agency, many professional divers were involved in the rescue efforts in order to evacuate people from the dangerous situation in the two provinces.