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Floods kills at least 14 in Turkey's quake-hit areas

Floods kills at least 14 in Turkey's quake-hit areas
March 16, 2023 Web Desk

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - At least 14 people have been killed after torrential rains triggered flash floods in Turkey's southeastern Sanliurfa and Adiyaman provinces, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.

Floodwater carried away cars and debris and inundated the basement and ground floors of some buildings, turning roads into rivers in central Sanliurfa, footage from social media and local broadcasters showed.

Search and rescue efforts for the missing and people trapped in their buildings continued with divers and boats, the country's disaster management authority (AFAD) said.

It said that more than 100 millimetres per square metre of rain had fallen in the affected provinces in the last 24 hours. The provinces, home to some 2.7 million people, were hit by last month's earthquakes which killed more than 48,000 people in Turkey and left millions homeless.

Thousands of people were staying in tents and container houses, some of which were flooded due to severe rain, after their homes were damaged by the earthquakes.

A container, which housed three earthquake victims, drifted away with the floods and a search was continuing for them in Adiyaman, the province's governor told broadcaster CNN Turk.