Death toll from Turkey floods rises to 58
An aerial view of a pontoon bridge being built up over the Ezine Stream after torrential rain led to flash floods in the town of Bozkurt in Turkey
By Gul Tuysuz, CNN
Flash floods across Turkey’s Black Sea coast have killed 58 people, officials said Sunday.
The country’s Natural Disasters and Emergency Directorate (AFAD) said in a statement that 48 people died in the Kastamonu province, nine people died in Sinop and one person died in Bartin.
Eight people are also receiving treatment in hospitals for injuries sustained in the devastating floods in the northern provinces — the second environmental catastrophe to hit the country this month.
Drone footage shot by Reuters showed extensive damage in the town of Bozkurt in Kastamonu province, where the news agency reported search and rescue teams were checking for missing people around demolished structures.
“Torrents of water tossed dozens of cars and heaps of debris along streets, destroyed buildings and bridges, closed roads and cut off electricity to hundreds of villages,” it reported.
Turkey has also been battling ruinous wildfires that have swept the country’s southern coastal regions and other countries in the Mediterranean for weeks amid an unrelenting heat wave.
More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from the flood zones, as dozens of villages remain without electricity, the statement said.
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