The government has promised aid for the disaster area, where several towns have been devastated and covered in mud. “We have not seen a disaster like this in our lives,” witness says.
Floods unleashed by heavy rains in the last 24 hours in the Turkish province of Bursa, located in the north-west of the country, have killed at least 5 people while rescue teams displaced to the disaster area continue to search for a missing young woman.
The floods have particularly affected the towns of Dudaklı, Narlıdere, Aksu and Kayacık, located in the Kestel district (about 30 km east of the city of Bursa); these four villages have been covered by a thick layer of mud while the cars dragged by the floods have been crowded together on the streets. The force of the water has also uprooted trees, causing serious damage to houses and crops.
According to the Turkish press, one of the deceased was found in the town of Dudaklı and it was a disabled young woman who was trapped in her home; the other four victims were found early Monday by rescue teams in Kayacık, and they were all members of the same family who were dragged by the water while on a farm. Another 17-year-old girl from this same family is missing.
Turkey’s Interior and Agriculture and Forest ministers visited the disaster area on Monday and promised State aid to rebuild populations. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu stressed that the rainfall in the Kestel district in the past 24 hours was well above normal levels for this time.
“We have not seen a disaster like this in our lives”
In total, nearly 300 members of the emergency services, including members of the Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) and the gendarmerie, are participating in search and rescue efforts in the region. Works are also concentrating on trying to remove the mud and debris from the most affected towns, where in many cases their inhabitants have been trapped in their homes or cannot access them.
Ayhan Aslan, a resident of Dudaklı village (of about 500 inhabitants), told the Anatolia news agency that everything happened very quickly and that they saw water-washed rocks falling from the mountain into the village. “Neither I nor my 80-year-old father have ever seen a disaster like this occur in our lives. In 2 hours the rain destroyed our town. I don’t even know how much damage is there in my crops,” he explained.
Bursa and other cities in Turkey, including Istanbul, have experienced heavy rains in recent days that have caused severe flooding and significant damage, especially in rural areas. For this Monday the General Directorate of Meteorology of Turkey has again issued a “yellow alert” for heavy rains and winds accompanied by hail for the entire province of Bursa.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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