8 Wounded As Flood Sweeps In Turkey's Famous Resort

- Eight people were wounded and dozens of cars were swept away in flooding after heavy rain on the evening of Sep 22 in Turkey’s Aegean resort town of Bodrum, just a day before the start of the feast of sacrifice holiday on Sept. 24.

The rain began pouring on the town’s neighborhoods on the night of Sept. 22 and quickly made streets and avenues unpassable.

Around twenty cars were swept away in flooding on Cevat Şakir Avenue, one of Bodrum’s main thoroughfares, and the nearby Dere Street in the Kumbahçe neighborhood.

A stray dog was reportedly killed in the current as an electric pole fell into an alley full with floodwater.

Five cars were swept away in the Bitez and Ortakent Yahşi neighborhoods, while members of AKUT Search and Rescue Association rescued passengers trapped inside their cars at the eleventh hour.

The main road connecting Bodrum with its Konacık neighborhood was closed to traffic due to the wash out.

Roads in the touristic neighborhoods of Bitez, Ortakent Yahşi, Yalıkavak and Turgutreis all became unusable due to the heavy rain.

A 22-year-old resident of Bodrum, Merve Kaya, held officials and touristic facilities responsible for the material damage she suffered.

“Hotels erected walls and blocked waterways and now I am suffering from material damages. Who will reimburse me? The hotels or the officials who give permission to the hotels?” she asked.

Kamil Yeter, who operates a store which repairs household goods, said he “almost died.”

“I was sleeping in my workshop when the flood hit. The floodwater came suddenly, broke the windows and flowed in. The water quickly rose up to my waist and I could barely get out of the shop,” Yeter said.

Bodrum Municipality police officers and fire teams were put on alert while tractors and heavy machinery belonging to private firms supported rescue missions.

Eight individuals who were wounded in the flood were brought to Bodrum State Hospital for treatment. Reports indicated their medical condition was good.

The injurious flood hit only a day before the religious holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, and right in the middle of a nine-day public holiday which started on Sept. 19.

Turkish civil servants were granted a nine-day leave while the opening of the new school year was postponed by two weeks until after the holiday upon requests from the tourism sector to compensate for losses suffered over the summer.

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