Pouring rain, heavy snow in mid-April kill four in east Turkey

Four people were killed in a series of floods caused by heavy rains and snowfall in eastern Turkey on Tuesday.

Torrential rains in the Southeast Anatolian region have caused floods, overrunning dozens of homes and businesses. In the city of Gaziantep, floodwaters reached two meters in height, forcing some 30 elementary school students and 10 other passengers to abandon the vehicle with the help of rescue teams.

In the cities of Siirt and Batman, the River Bitlis and Sason Creek, respectively, also flooded their banks. Meanwhile, dozens of homes were also inundated in Osmaniye, Bitlis, Muş and the southern city of Adana.

Ali Uysal in Gaziantep, Murat Paksoy in Şırnak, Muhabbet Gültekin in Siirt and Ali Aydar in Batman all died after falling into the flood waters. In some areas, schools were closed for one day.

Heavy snowfall also took a major toll in eastern Anatolia, with 26 village roads completely sealed off in the vicinity of Van. Nine more such village roads were closed in and around Erzurum. Temperatures in the east fell as low as negative 5 degrees Celsius in Erzincan and negative 11 in Iğdır. There was also more snow in the western city of Bolu, and measures were taken to keep the mountain roads open in that area.


/Hurriyet Daily News/