ANKARA: Flash floods killed at least 14 people living in tents and container housing across Turkiye’s quake-hit region on Wednesday, piling more pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of crunch elections.
Several more people were swept away by the rushing water, which turned streets into mud-dy rivers in areas hit by last month’s 7.8-magnitude quake, officials said.
More than 48,000 people died in Turkiye and nearly 6,000 in Syria in the February 6 dis-aster, the region’s deadliest in modern times.
Hundreds of thousands of Turkish quake survivors have been moved into tents and con-tainer homes across the disaster region, which covers 11 provinces across Turkiye’s south-east. Torrential rains hit the area on Tuesday and the weather service expects them to last until late Wednesday.
Turkish officials said the floods killed 12 people in Sanliurfa, about 50 kilometres north of the Syrian border.
Two people, including a one-year-old, also died in nearby Adiyaman, where five remain unaccounted for.
Images showed the waters sweeping away cars and flooding temporary housing set up for earthquake victims.
In one viral video, a man dressed in a beige suit and tie reaches out for help while floating down a surging stream alongside a piece of furniture. His fate remains unknown. –Agencies
