Twenty-seven people have died due to severe floods and mudslides in Turkey.
Torrential rain across the Black Sea’s coastal provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop and Samsun triggered flooding on Wednesday which demolished homes and bridges, swept away cars and resulted in fatalities.
Search-and-rescue crews in northern Turkey recovered 10 bodies overnight, raising the death toll, officials said on Friday.
The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD, said Friday that the latest bodies were found in worst-hit Kastamonu.
The agency said crews are still searching for a woman who was reported missing in Bartin province.
The private DHA news agency reported that 12-year-old twins and their grandparents are also missing in the town of Bozkurt, in Kastamonu, after their building collapsed.
In Bartin province, at least 13 people were wounded when a section of a bridge caved in.
In total, five bridges collapsed in the floods while two others were damaged, AFAD said.
Dozens of villages are still without power and various roads remain blocked.
More than 1,700 people have been evacuated from the region, including hundreds who were lifted to safety by helicopters, and many were being temporarily housed at student dormitories.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu called the scenes "the most severe flood disaster I have seen”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who cancelled celebrations marking his ruling party’s 20th anniversary, said on Thursday that at least 4,500 personnel, 19 helicopters and 24 boats were involved in the search-and-rescue operation.
Turkey’s Black Sea region is frequently struck by severe rains and flash flooding.
At least six people were killed in floods that hit the eastern Black Sea coastal province of Rize last month.
Raging wildfires burned tens of thousands of hectares of forest along its southern coast during the last two weeks.
Last month, Turkey registered its highest temperature since 1961 – 49.1C (120.4F) in the southeastern town of Cizre.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
