Severe floods batter Turkey’s Black Sea coastal cities

At least seventeen people were killed in flash floods in Bartin, Kastamonu and Sinop provinces in Turkey's Black Sea region that sent water and debris gushing through streets and damaged bridges, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

"May Allah have mercy on our 17 citizens, who lost their lives in floods in Kastamonu, Sinop and Bartin," Erdogan said on his Twitter account on Thursday evening.

There was also flooding in the Black Sea provinces of Sinop and Bartin, where one person went missing on Wednesday and another died due to a heart attack, according to state broadcaster TRT Haber on Thursday.

Helicopters were evacuating some people from affected areas, the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) said, adding that some roads were closed due to collapsed and damaged bridges.

Thousands relocated

TV footage showed the floods dragging dozens of cars and heaps of debris along the streets. The heavy rainfall in the region was expected to ease on Thursday evening, AFAD said.

Turkish rescuers distributed food and relocated thousands of people into student dormitories. A regional hospital holding 45 patients — four of them in intensive care — in the region around the coastal city of Sinop was evacuated on Wednesday.

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The floods also damaged power infrastructure, the Energy Ministry said, adding that some 10,000 households were currently without electricity as a precaution.

Turkey's north is prone to flash floods in the summer when rains are particularly strong. Last year at least five people were killed in floods in the region.

Turkey has been grappling with drought and wildfires that world scientists believe are becoming more frequent and violent because of climate change.