At least 44 killed in Turkey flood as search for missing continues

Country’s worst flooding in years sees buildings and bridges destroyed and electricity cut off in Black Sea region

At least 44 people have died in floods in Turkey, with the death toll expected to climb as rescue teams continue to search for those who are still missing.

Torrential rain brought chaos to northern provinces as torrents of water tossed dozens of cars and heaps of debris along streets, destroyed bridges, closed roads and cut off electricity to hundreds of villages in the Black Sea region.

Drone footage showed massive damage in the flood-hit Black Sea town of Bozkurt, where emergency workers were searching demolished buildings on Saturday.

Thirty-six people died as a result of floods in the Kastamonu district which includes Bozkurt, while another seven people died in Sinop and one in Bartin, the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) said.

In one collapsed building along the banks of the swollen river, 10 people were still believed buried.

The rapid floodwaters appeared to have swept away the foundations of several other apartment blocks.

Relatives of the missing, desperate for news, waited anxiously nearby.

Ilyas Kalabalik, 42, described the situation as “unprecedented”.

“There is no power,” said the resident. “The mobile phones were dead. There was no reception. You couldn’t receive news from anyone.”

He added: “We had no idea whether the water was rising or not, whether it flooded the building or not.

“We were just waiting, like this. Our wives and children were panicked. Once sun came up in the morning, we saw police officers. They took us from the building and hurled us into a gas station.”

The wreckage of vehicle is seen amid debris in the town of Bozkurt after flash floods swept through the Turkish Black Sea region (Mehmet Emin Caliskan/Reuters)

Mr Kalabalik was surrounded by residents who were asking each other whether anyone had any news about missing people.

“My aunt’s children are there. My aunt is missing. Her husband is missing. Her twin grandchildren are missing. The wife of our building manager is missing along with their two children,” he said.

Turkey’s worst floods in years brought chaos to northern provinces just as authorities were declaring wildfires that raged through southern coastal regions for two weeks had been brought under control.

About 45cm (18 inches) of rain fell in less than three days in one village near Bozkurt.

The small town of Bozkurt lies in a valley along the banks of the Ezine river in Kastamonu province, 2.5km (1.6 miles) from the Black Sea.

Turkey and the whole Mediterranean region have been experiencing a prolonged heatwave, which has caused concerns for the elderly and homeless.

Ivan Hristov Nenov, 46, cools off in a fountain at the Las Tendillas square, as a heatwave hits Spain, in Cordoba, southern Spain (Jon Nazca/Reuters)

Spain expected to record its hottest day of the year on Saturday with temperatures topping 45C in parts of the Iberian Peninsula, while Italian authorities expanded the number of cities on red alert for health risks.

In the southern Spanish province of Granada, where the mercury hit 40C by midday, few people ventured outside.

Dominic Roye, a climate scientist at the University of Santiago de Compostela, said the hot air from the Sahara that had brought days of hot weather and wildfires continued to stream over to Mediterranean countries.

With nighttime temperatures forecast to exceed 25C in much of Spain, Mr Roye worried about residents who cannot afford home air conditioning and other vulnerable people.

“The more intense the heat, the higher the mortality risk,” he said. “When you have high night temperatures, our bodies are prevented from resting.”

Authorities in Italy also raised concerns about older adults and other people at risk as they expanded heat warnings to 16 cities.

Temperatures in the mid-40Cs were forecast for the Sicilian cities of Palermo and Catania, and as high as 37C for Rome, Florence and Bologna, all places the Health Ministry put on red alert.

Italians sought respite at the sea and in the mountains from the aptly named Lucifer anti-cyclone bringing the hot air from Africa during Italy’s peak summer holiday weekend.

The heatwave has aggravated fires that have consumed forests in southern Italy, Greece and North Africa.

Additional reporting by Reuters