Turkey’s northwest struggles with flash floods

SAKARYA/DUZCE, Turkey

Wednesday’s flash flood stranded many people in northwestern Turkey after blocking roads and causing heavy damage to the buildings.

On late Wednesday, Cumayeri, a district of the northwestern Duzce province, was hit by heavy rainfall which triggered landslides and blocked the roads to the villages.

Eight people, who were stuck in a rafting facility, were rescued by a helicopter, which landed in the Sakarya province located near Duzce, due to adverse air condition in the latter.

Two of the rescued people were learnt to have fractures in their bodies, while the others survived the floods without injury.

“It was a moment when human faces death,” Davut Pirdal, operator of the rafting facility, told Anadolu Agency.

Pirdal added that the helicopter could only reach them at around 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Thursday.

The flood completely destroyed the facility, he said, adding that over 10 cattle were drown in the disaster.

Isa Keles, Anadolu Agency’s Cumayeri correspondent who went to the scene to cover the incident, was also among the people rescued from the area.

Keles said that they first took shelter under a roof, but later they had to climb to the top of the roof as the water level kept increasing.

Also, 21 people working at hazelnut farms in Dilaver village of Duzce were stranded in their houses due to heavy rainfall.

Duzce Governor Zulkif Dagli told Anadolu Agency that the workers coming from southeastern provinces to work at the farmlands were also rescued by a helicopter.

Dagli also said at least 56 people have been rescued from the different parts of the city so far.

Hasan Ani, one of the workers coming from Sirnak province, said that they were stranded since last night, but they are fine now.

Also in Akcakoca district, heavy rainfall caused stream flooding, which made it impossible for people residing in villages to reach city center.

The villagers are being evacuated to the city center by helicopters, according to Hakan Oztas, deputy mayor of Akcakoca.

Oztas said that there is no casualty due to the disaster.

"Rain has slowed down now. [...] Some vehicles are dragged to the sea," he said.

*Writing by Sena Guler