Destructive flash floods hit Turkey’s Black Sea Region, leaving at least 70 people dead
Deadly flash floods hit Turkey's Black Sea Region this week, causing widespread damage and leaving at least 70 people dead and 47 missing. The event comes less than a month after 6 people died in floods in the northeast Rize province.
Heavy rains started affecting the region on August 10 and continued through August 12, turning streets into raging rivers, causing landslides, and destroying buildings, roads and bridges.
Kastamonu'da sel felaketi
Kastamonu'da Bozkurt'ta sel etkisi sürüyor. Alt yapı ve önlem yetersizliğiyle sel suları katlara kadar çıkmış durumda. Bölgede yaşayanlar acil yardım çağrısı yapıyor. Evlerde mahsur kalanlar var.#SEL #Kastamonu pic.twitter.com/egbNOxXPLI
— Umut Gazetesi (@UmutGazetesi_) August 11, 2021
Search and rescue crews were deployed in areas affected by floods, evacuating people stranded in their houses and cars, and distributing aid to survivors.1
Rescuers were forced to evacuate a regional hospital holding 45 patients on August 11 in the region around the coastal city of Sinop on Wednesday. Four of them were in intensive care.
"We are perhaps facing a disaster that we had not seen in 50 or 100 years," Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said of the flooding and heavy rains on Wednesday.2
In 24 hours to August 11, Ulus in Bartin Province recorded 302.4 mm (11.9 inches) of rain, while Ayancik in Sinop saw 240.5 mm (9.4 inches)and Küre in Kastamonu recorded 198.9 mm (7.8 inches). In the previous 24 hour period, Çayeli in Rize Province recorded 123 mm (4.8 inches) of rain, according to Turkey’s General Directorate of Meteorology.3
The country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) confirmed on Friday, August 13, 25 people were killed in Kastamonu and 2 in Sinop.4
The search for one missing person in the Ulus Akörensökülar Village of Bartin Province continues.
Update:
36 people were killed in Kastamonu, seven in Sinop and one in Bartın, AFAD reported on Saturday, August 14.5
The death toll rose to 70 and the number of missing people to 47 on Monday, August 16 – 60 fatalities in Kastamonu, 9 in Sinop and 1 in Bartın
Context update:
A low pressure area that formed over the north-central Black Sea on August 11 has been classified as Medistorm Falchion on August 12, 2021, by the Mediterranean Cyclone Centre. Falchion was moving slowly to the NE on August 12 and was expected to strengthen and make landfall near Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Krai, Russia by the evening of August 13.6
References
1 6 dead, 1 missing as floods hit Turkey’s Black Sea region – The Daily Sabah
2 Death toll from Turkey's flash floods rises to five – AFP
3 Turkey – 1 Missing After Severe Floods and Landslides Across the Black Sea Region – FloodList
4 About rainfall in Bartin and Sinop – Press Release by AFAD
5 Deaths in northern Turkey floods rise to 51 as rescuers push on – The Daily Sabah
6 Medistorm Falchion forms in the Black Sea, bringing heavy rains and floods – The Watchers
Featured image credit: The Daily Sabah (stillshot)
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