ANKARA: Four people have died in floods caused by heavy rain along Turkey’s Black Sea coastline, the interior minister said Sunday.
A further 11 people were missing after flooding around the mountain town of Dereli in Giresun province.
“So far, 127 of our citizens have been rescued in search and rescue (efforts),” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said while visiting the town.
One of the dead was a police officer whose vehicle was swept away by the floods.
Television footage showed vehicles and debris being carried by floodwater along the main road of Dereli, which lies around 12 miles (20 kilometers) inland. Soylu said 118 villages in the region had been cut off.
Heavy rain along the Black Sea coast on Saturday evening also saw apartment buildings evacuated after landslides in Rize province, 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of Giresun.
Meteorologists forecast heavy storms in Giresun and the neighboring provinces of Trabzon, Rize and Artvin for later Sunday.