AMN
A huge search and rescue operation is underway in northern Turkey after flash floods along the Black Sea coast killed at least 27 people. Kastamonu province is the worst-hit area, accounting for 25 of the deaths. Two others died in Sinop on the coast. More than 1,700 people have been evacuated, and as many as 330 villages are now without electricity after the floods damaged power lines.
This month Turkey has also had to battle huge wildfires in the south. Those fires – which are now under control – forced thousands of locals and tourists to flee Marmaris and surrounding areas. Eight people died and more than One Lakh (100,000) hectares of vegetation was devastated.
Turkey’s latest disaster came in the week that a major UN report warned of more extreme weather events because of human-induced global warming. Flash floods and severe heatwaves are afflicting much of Europe this summer.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on a visit to the area on Thursday said that, this is the worst flood disaster they have seen.