ANKARA, Turkey — Officials reported Friday that the death toll from floods and mudslides in northern Turkey had risen to at least 38, as rescuers searched fallen buildings, inundated homes, and submerged basements for additional fatalities and survivors. More than 300 individuals may be missing, according to one opposition leader.
Late Friday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca revealed on Twitter that 32 people perished in Kastamonu and six in Sinop as a result of the earthquake.
The floods came on the heels of wildfires in southern Turkey, which ravaged forest lands in the tourist-friendly districts of Mugla and Antalya. At least eight individuals were killed, and thousands of more people were forced to evacuate their homes.
Climate change caused by the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas, according to scientists, is causing more severe occurrences including heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods, and storms. As the globe warms, such disasters are likely to become more frequent.
Twelve-year-old twin twins and their grandparents were trapped inside an eight-story building in the village of Bozkurt when it collapsed. Searching for survivors, emergency personnel were spotted combing through the wreckage.
According to the DHA news agency, the girls’ mother, Arzu Yucel, fled the apartment building when officials urged residents to relocate their vehicles to higher ground. When she returned, the building was engulfed in water, preventing her from entering. Her girls waved at her from a different building.
“We talked on the phone. From the balcony, they waved. ‘Don’t worry, mama, we’re OK,’ they responded, according to Yucel. “They told us to raise our automobiles.’ ‘Save your lives, save your children,’ they didn’t say. I might have been able to get them out of there.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who postponed his governing party’s 20th-anniversary festivities, paid a visit to the region on Friday and vowed to rebuild damaged homes, roads, and bridges.
“With God’s help, we will also be able to overcome this tragedy. “As a state, we will do whatever it takes…and hopefully, we will emerge from the ashes,” Erdogan added.
The Turkish president alluded to recent wildfires and floods in other parts of the world.
Yilmaz Ersevenli, a resident of Bozkurt, told NTV that as the floodwaters rose, he left his house to transfer his car to a safer location, but was quickly carried away. He claimed he was able to save himself by clinging to a tree that had swept away as well.
He stated, “I almost lost my life attempting to preserve my automobile.”
A piece of a bridge collapsed down in Bartin province, injuring at least 13 persons. According to AFAD, ten persons are now in hospitals.
Erdogan stated on Thursday that the search and rescue effort comprised at least 4,500 people, 19 aircraft, and 24 boats.
Severe rainfall and flash flooding are common in Turkey’s Black Sea area. Floods in the eastern Black Sea coastal province of Rize killed at least six people last month.