Nine people were killed and 21 injured as flash floods triggered by torrential rains hit Turkey's Black Sea coastal province of Samsun on Wednesday.
The downpour caused the Mert river to overflow late on Tuesday, flooding nearby homes and shops and stranding cars in the Canik district of Samsun, Turkish media reported quoting the Disaster & Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD).
An apartment building complex was greatly affected by the deluge and many of the buildings' ground and first floors were flooded. Search and rescue efforts continued to trace the missing and save those stranded. Three Army helicopters were taking part in the rescue operation supervised by Samsun Governor Hüseyin Aksoy and Mayor Yusuf Ziya Yilmaz. Nearby provinces such as Ankara, Amasya, Çorum, Ordu and Yozgat had also sent search and rescue teams and vehicles to Samsun.
The Samsun-Ordu road in the Canik district was closed to traffic for a few hours as a precaution in case of a landslide, but was reopened to traffic later. The Yilandere Bridge over Mert river collapsed in the torrents, while the Mert-2 bridge faced risk of collapse.
Flood victims complained that they had received no warning from the authorities about the heavy rains and the possibility of flooding. Some of the victims said they rushed to leave their homes in panic, thinking that a bomb had exploded or a powerful earthquake had hit when the flood waters arrived. The floods also destroyed large areas of sown field in Samsun besides causing substantial damage to a newly-opened shopping mall.
Residents of the province filled the streets when authorities warned of further flooding due to the prospects of the collapse of a nearby dam, the reports said.
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