Floods kill 13 in Turkish earthquake-battered provinces
Ankara, March 15
Floods caused by torrential rains hit two Turkish provinces that were devastated by last month’s catastrophic earthquake, killing at least 13 people and increasing the misery for thousands who were left homeless, officials and media reports said Wednesday. At least two other people were reported missing.
Two people died in the town of Tut in southeastern Adiyaman province, where surging waters swept away a container home sheltering a family of earthquake survivors, HaberTurk television reported.
The governor of neighboring Sanliurfa province, Salih Ayhan, told HaberTurk television that four people were killed by the floods in his region. Later, rescuers found the bodies of five Syrian nationals inside a flooded basement apartment in Sanliurfa, and retrieved two other bodies inside a van that was trapped at an underpass.
Television footage from Sanliurfa showed flood waters surging along a street and sweeping away cars, as well as a man being rescued from the underpass.
Several people were evacuated from a drenched camp where earthquake survivors were sheltering in tents. Patients were also evacuated from a hospital, HaberTurk reported.
Turkey’s disaster management agency said more than a dozen professional divers were involved in the rescue efforts in each of the two provinces.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck parts of Turkey and Syria on February 6, killing more than 52,000 people — the vast majority in Turkey. More than 200,000 buildings in Turkey either collapsed or were severely damaged. AP
