- Title: Turkey's flood victims anxiously wait from missing relatives
- Date: 14th August 2021
- Summary: BOZKURT, KASTAMONU, TURKEY (AUGUST 14, 2021) (REUTERS) RESIDENT OF BOZKURT, ILYAS KALABALIK AND HIS NEIGHBOUR WATCHING SEARCH AND RESCUE WORK AT PARTIALLY COLLAPSED BUILDING BUILDING PARTIALLY COLLAPSED BY FLOOD WATERS PINK BUNK BEDS SEEN IN DAMAGED BUILDING 4, VARIOUS OF MEN HUGGING AND WEEPING ILYAS KALABALIK HUGGING HIS NEIGHBOUR MAN ASKING KALABALIK WHETHER HE HEARD ABOUT HIS MISSING RELATIVES / KALABALIK SAYING: "NO" VARIOUS OF SEVERELY DAMAGED RESIDENTIAL BUILDING BULLDOZER WORKING AT SITE VARIOUS OF DISTRESSED RESIDENTS WAITING TO HEAR FROM THEIR LOVED ONES (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) RESIDENT OF BOZKURT, ILYAS KALABALIK, 42, SAYING: "This is unprecedented. There is no power. The mobile phones were dead. There was no reception. You couldn't receive news from anyone. It got dark at 2000 pm in the evening. You could only hear the water (flowing). 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 brought us to a gas station." KALABALIK TALKING TO HIS RELATIVES ABOUT DAMAGED BUILDINGS (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) RESIDENT OF BOZKURT, ILYAS KALABALIK, (42), SAYING: "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, Musa Genc, is missing along with their two children." VARIOUS OF DAMAGED BUILDINGS (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) RESIDENT OF BOZKURT, TURAN KALABALIK, (45), SAYING: "I am a business owner. I have a cafe near the city hall. People were shouting and screaming asking others to run away. We looked and saw the flood waters coming our way from the direction of post office. We fled uphill running past the bridge to bring ourselves to (safety). In fact, we had a funeral. My uncle passed away. We were going to the funeral ceremony. We couldn't go there at that moment. They took the coffin inside." VARIOUS OF RESCUE WORKERS WALKING ON DAMAGED BRIDGE FLOOD WATERS GUSHING UNDER THE BRIDGE VARIOUS OF DAMAGED TAXI WASHED AWAY BY FLOOD WATERS VARIOUS OF GENDARMERIE SOLDIERS REMOVING MUD FROM THE ENTRANCE OF CITY HALL BULLDOZER REMOVING DEBRIS VARIOUS OF A SEARCH AND RESCUE DOG NEAR DAMAGED CAR BURIED IN MUD
- Embargoed: 28th August 2021 09:27
- Keywords: Turkey casualties damage floods residents
- Location: BOZKURT, KASTAMONU, TURKEY
- City: BOZKURT, KASTAMONU, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Europe,Floods,Middle East,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001EQ96YBR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Hopes of finding survivors from Turkey's worst floods in years dimmed on Saturday (August 14) as dozens of families of the missing anxiously watched rescue teams search buildings devastated by raging torrents which have killed 40 people.
The floods in the northern Black Sea region were the second natural disaster to strike the country this month.
Thirty-four people died as a result of floods in the Kastamonu district which includes Bozkurt, and another six people died in Sinop, 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, were nearby.
The floods 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 45 cm (18 inches) of rain fell in less than three days in one village near Bozkurt.
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.
The small town of Bozkurt lies in a valley along the banks of the Ezine river in Kastamonu province, 2.5 km (1.6 miles) from the Black Sea.
(Production: Bulent Usta, Yesim Dikmen) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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