'I can't be grateful for being alive': Distressed flood victims recount their ordeal

Record ID: 1632098

  • Title: 'I can't be grateful for being alive': Distressed flood victims recount their ordeal
  • Date: 14th August 2021
  • Summary: BOZKURT, KASTAMONU, TURKEY (AUGUST 14, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WOMAN CLIMBING STAIRS TO ENTER HER APARTMENT FROM WINDOW VARIOUS OF WOMAN AT WINDOW VARIOUS OF GENDARMERIE SOLDIERS DRAINING MUD AND WATER AT THE ENTRANCE OF A FLOODED BUILDING 4, VIEW OF FLOODED BUILDING VARIOUS OF BOZKURT RESIDENT, ELIF, WAITING OUTSIDE THE FLOODED BUILDING WORKERS AT SITE (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) BOZKURT RESIDENT, ELIF (NO SURNAME GIVEN), SAYING: "Several dead bodies were washed away in front of my eyes. There was dog there with her puppies. I cannot get the screams of her out of my head. I really cannot. It was awful. It was really awful. Right now, I cannot be grateful that I am alive. I appreciate every time a body is found, thinking that at least bodies was retrieved. So, it came to that. I am really shaken, I am sorry." PEOPLE LEAVING THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD AFTER TAKING THEIR BELONGINGS (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) BOZKURT RESIDENT, ELIF (NO SURNAME GIVEN), SAYING: "We have a lot of deaths in Bozkurt, a lot. Thanks God, there are no casualties in this building but my uncle and my relatives say they were saved by ten to fifteen minutes." VARIOUS OF FIRE TRUCK ARRIVING AT NEIGHBOURHOOD VARIOUS OF LOGS WASHED AWAY AROUND PLAYGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) BOZKURT RESIDENT, EMINE RENCLER, SAYING: "The cars were all around. The flood water came along with knee-deep mud. I told my neighbours, everyone: "Run, run, save yourselves. The hydroelectric dam has burst." When we went there, flood waters followed. When I got to the mosque and looked the water took over Bozkurt completely. The mud, took over (the town) immediately." VARIOUS OF LOGS AROUND DAMAGED CAR DAMAGED TRUCK VARIOUS OF A CAR PARTIALLY SUBMERGED IN WATER VARIOUS OF CAR BURIED IN MUD
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2021 13:13
  • Keywords: Turkey casualties climate change damage floods
  • Location: BOZKURT, KASTAMONU, TURKEY
  • City: BOZKURT, KASTAMONU, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Europe,Floods,Middle East,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001EQ96Z47
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Residents of northern town of Bozkurt were still shocked on Saturday (August 14), as hopes to find survivors dimmed after Turkey's worst floods in years.
    At least 44 people have died from the floods in the northern Black Sea region, the second natural disaster to strike the country this month.
    Thirty-six people died as a result of floods in the Kastamonu district which includes Bozkurt, and another seven people died in Sinop and one in Bartin, the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) said.
    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.
    "It was so awful. I cannot get the screams of a dog with her puppies out of my head," Elif, a resident in her 20s, told Reuters.
    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
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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