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Death toll rises to 74 as floods batter Turkey's Black Sea coast

More than 2,300 people have been evacuated since the flash floods erupted in northern Turkey on Wednesday.

Bozkurt flood damage
A man stands in the foreground as a mechanical digger works near two collapsed buildings following flash floods the day before in the town of Bozkurt in Kastamonu province in the Black Sea region of Turkey on Aug. 15, 2021. — YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images

Seventy-four people are dead and dozens more are missing from severe flooding that has battered Turkey’s Black Sea region for nearly a week, authorities said Monday. 

The heavy rains and flash flooding have killed 62 people since Wednesday in Kastamonu province, 11 in Sinop province and one in Bartin province, the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate said Monday. 

Some 47 people are unaccounted for in Sinop and Kastamonu and eight people are hospitalized, the disaster agency said. 

Some 8,000 people, in addition to more than 80 ambulances and 20 rescue dogs, are assisting with search-and-rescue efforts. The Turkish Defense Ministry also dispatched military vehicles and two ships to a hard-hit town in Sinop to help evacuate residents. 

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