Rescuers race to pull the helpless out of Turkey floodwaters weeks after deadly quake
Over 50,000 people died in the series of February earthquakes. Now, 5 weeks later, torrential rains claim at least 16 more lives and destroy countless homes and apartments.
Shocking video: Frantic rescues from Turkey floods a month after deadly quake
Flooding rains hit southeast Turkey earlier this week and turned major boulevards into raging rivers. The video is about 3 minutes long but shows incredible scenes of survival. Residents try wading into the rushing water to pull screaming children and adults to safety. A man swims to the bank and disparately holds onto a ladder that a bystander lowered. This is the same area that suffered it's deadliest quake in modern history a month ago.
SANLIURFA PROVINCE, Turkey – Only five weeks after a series of major earthquakes devastated southeast Turkey, disaster strikes again. Deadly flooding turned boulevards into raging rivers. So far, waters have killed 16, according to the state news agency Anadolu.
Frantic cries for help can be heard in the video as bystanders desperately try to brace themselves against the force and wade into the water to catch helpless neighbors bobbing in the rapids that used to be a street.
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Image 1 of 4Victims try to avoid being swept under a pedestrian bridge. (Reuters)
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Image 2 of 4Police divers, also known as frogmen, of Turkish Police Department conduct search and rescue operations at the flooded crossroads after a downpour. (Esber Ayaydin/Anadolu Agency)
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Image 3 of 4Cars floated out of garages and down the street. (Reuters)
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Image 4 of 4Police wore dive/survival suits to pull people out and search for others. (Reuters)
Several neighbors line the inundated roads and offer anything for victims to grab onto. Bystanders offer ladders, hoses, scarves and anything to those trapped and the group to pull the person out. The crowd watches and cheers on the effort.
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Bystanders throw whatever they can find to those trapped in floodwaters.
(Esber Ayaydin/Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
Watch how fast the muddy water pushes cars effortlessly. They collide together like flotsam. Police officers don dive suits to hit the "street" and pull any survivors and bodies from the wrecks.
Someone trying to pull another person from an inundated car.
(Reuters / FOX Weather)
One policeman at a rescue scene was reduced to tears.
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A police officer at one rescue site was reduced to tears.
(Reuters / FOX Weather)
Government officials took to social media to plead with residents to evacuate basement and first-floor apartments and homes.
The Turkish Minister of Defense posted a video of an armored military vehicle towing two crowded buses from an underpass. Local media reported seeing officers pulling several bodies out of the bus.
After the deadly quakes destroyed over 164,000 buildings, according to AP, many homeless people were forced to shelter in tents and makeshift container homes. In one city, officials evacuated quake survivors from almost 2,000 tents, according to local news outlet Milliyet.
One family living in a container that they placed in the garden of their temblor-destroyed home washed away. Milliyet said that first responders found one dead, but three more are still missing.
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Watch roads collapse and big rigs swept away by Turkey floods
Just a month after the most deadly earthquake in modern history, Turkey is hit again by floods. A police officer is reduced to tears while pulling residents out of a swift river that was a street. A truck tries to drive across a riverbank, but the water pushes the big rig down the ravine. A photographer caught the moment an overpass breaks up and crumbles into the waters below.
'Worst flooding in 65 years'
The area saw 6 inches of rain in two days, the worst in 65 years, Sanliurfa officials said in a statement. A typical March only sees 2.5 inches of rain. The city got a third of its annual rainfall in just two days.
Officials also reported that 4,895 residents called the emergency number for help just in that city.
More dramatic video shows a truck driving along a riverbank. Runoff across the road pushed the big rig over the edge and into the ravine.
'THIS IS THE WORST QUAKE T HIT REGION IN OVER 100 YEARS' SAYS TURKISH AMBASSADOR
Runoff washes a truck off the road into a river.
(Reuters / FOX Weather)
Flooding ate away at a bridge. A photographer caught the asphalt breaking apart in big chunks and disappearing into the water.
Floodwaters tear apart a bridge in seconds.
(Reuters / FOX Weather)
The country is still mourning after three earthquakes of 7.5, 7.8 and 6.7 magnitude rocked the region on February 6, 2023, followed by 11,000 aftershocks. The first major quake struck in the middle of the night, forcing many out of bed and into the snowy streets with no supplies.
UNICEF reports that in Turkey alone, 1.9 million residents were forced from their destroyed homes and currently live in shelters. And over 850,000 children are orphaned or still separated from their parents who have gone missing.
TURKEY EARTHQUAKE NOW DEADLIEST IN ITS MODERN HISTORY AS DEATH TOLL CONTINUES TO RISE
Powerful earthquake devastates Turkey, Syria
Frantic search-and-rescue operations are underway in Turkey and Syria after a series of catastrophic earthquakes jolted the region. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck at 4:17 a.m. local time (8:17 p.m. EST Sunday) and was followed 11 minutes later by another strong, 6.7 magnitude aftershock, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Over 44,000 died in Turkey from the quake. Over 50,000 people died in both Turkey and Syria.