Turkish authorities evacuated a hospital on Wednesday and were looking for a woman missing after heavy rains that caused massive flooding and landslides in northern Turkey.
This natural disaster, which hit several humid regions bordering the Black Sea, came as Turkey was barely recovering from large fires that killed eight people in the tourist south of its territory.
Sick people evacuated in rubber dinghies
The 45 patients from a hospital in Sinop province had to be transported to another facility due to the rising waters, said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
Rescuers were taking patients in rubber dinghies that they dragged along a flooded street, according to images released by local authorities.
“This is a disaster that we haven't experienced for 50 or 100 years, maybe.
We have recorded rainfall records in places, ”Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said.
Further west, in Bartin province, rescuers were looking for an 80-year-old washed up after her house collapsed, the local governor said.
One person also died of a heart attack in this province.
Landslides
The intense precipitation is also the cause of several landslides, one of which caused the partial collapse of a road bridge, according to the Minister of Health.
Eight people had to be hospitalized.
In Kastamonu province, entire streets had disappeared under torrents of brown water carrying dozens of vehicles and road signs, according to a video released by Turkish news agency DHA.
"The water has reached three or four meters in height"
"The water has reached three or four meters in height in places and fellow citizens have taken refuge on the roofs of buildings," Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told reporters.
"Helicopters are going from neighboring provinces to the disaster areas," he added.
The flooding was caused by heavy rains that started Tuesday evening and continued into the night.
Regions in the north and northeast of Turkey are regularly affected by deadly floods.
Link between global warming and extreme weather events
Many scientists are establishing a link between global warming caused by human activity and the increasingly frequent occurrence of such extreme weather events.
Turkey has been the scene in recent months of several natural disasters, including episodes of severe drought and violent forest fires between late July and early August.
After this black series, several politicians and associations urged the government to take radical measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Turkey has not ratified the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
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