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Torrential rains kill 5 in Turkey, 3 in Bulgaria and 2 in Greece
Torrential rains kill 5 in Turkey, 3 in Bulgaria and 2 in Greece
by AFP Staff Writers
Istanbul (AFP) Sept 6, 2023

Five people died on Tuesday in flash floods from torrential rains that turned the streets of Istanbul and parts of northwestern Turkey into rushing rivers, officials said.

The nighttime storm partially flooded an Istanbul subway station and forced the evacuation of dozens of people from a city library, media reports said.

Television and social media images showed rushing waters sweeping away cars and city market stalls.

The Istanbul governor's office said two people died.

The rains followed a particularly dry summer that saw the water reservoirs of the city of 16 million people fall to nine-year lows.

Turkey's emergency service said three people also died on Tuesday and three were missing in floods that hit the northwestern city of Kirklareli.

Toll from Bulgaria flooding rises to three
Tsarevo, Bulgaria (AFP) Sept 6, 2023 - The toll from torrential rains and flooding on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast has climbed to three as the bad weather left tourists stranded, officials said Wednesday.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms since late Monday caused rivers to overflow, damaging bridges and cutting off access in the region south of the coastal city of Burgas.

The body of a man was discovered on Wednesday, Emil Pavlov, head of police of the coastal city of Burgas told reporters.

On Tuesday, a 61-year-old construction worker was found dead, while the body of a woman was also seen before being swept away by waves.

Two women -- travelling in a car that was swept away when crossing a bridge -- remain missing.

The rains were the heaviest since 1994 with as much rain falling in 24 hours as usually in several months, according to head of the fire department Alexandar Dzhartov.

"Around 4,000 people are affected by the disaster along the entire southern part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast," said Tourism Minister Zaritsa Dinkova after meeting hoteliers near the flood-hit coastal town of Tsarevo.

"There is a problem transporting tourists because it is dangerous to go by coach on the roads affected by the floods," she added.

In Tsarevo -- which declared a state of emergency -- residents and volunteers were picking up debris, with overturned cars and caravans strewn around streets and camping places, according to an AFP photographer.

"It's a disaster... the steep terrain (along the coast) creates an enormous danger," Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said, adding "long-term solutions" would be needed to secure the area.

Flooding -- rare in the Black Sea coast area -- is becoming increasingly common in Bulgaria with the impact of climate change and the poor maintenance of infrastructure.

As the world warms, the atmosphere contains more water vapour, increasing in particular the risk of heavy precipitation notably in Asia, Western Europe and Latin America.

Combined with other critical factors such as urbanisation and land-use planning, these more intense rainfall events contribute to flooding.

Environment Minister Julian Popov on Nova television warned of the danger posed by "the poor state of infrastructure and too much construction on the coast".

Scientists warn that extreme weather is becoming more intense as a result of climate change.

Several people were also killed when heavy rains hit Spain, Greece and Turkey this week.

Torrential rains kill one in Greece after wildfires
Athens (AFP) Sept 5, 2023 - At least one person has died in eastern Greece after torrential rains hit the country, already ravaged for weeks by devastating wildfires, authorities said on Tuesday.

However, officials said firefighters had brought under control the blaze burning for weeks in Dadia national park.

The victim of the rains appeared to have been carried away by flood waters, while a shepherd was reported missing, government spokesman Yannis Artopios told public broadcaster ERT.

"Storms and heavy rains were hitting Tuesday," said Artopios, adding the dead man was found in central Greece's Magnesia region.

The regional capital Volos has seen 200 millimetres (about eight inches) of rain, while 516 mm have fallen in the neighbouring village of Zagora, according to the National Meteorological Service (EMY).

The basement of Volos hospital was flooded and firefighters "are in the process of pumping out the water," said Artopios.

Since Monday, EMY has warned of serious bad weather which could affect the country until Thursday, with "authorities on high alert," according to the government.

On Monday evening, storms also caused landslides in Evia, an island close to Athens, while crops were damaged in Elis in the southwest Peloponnese region, according to local media.

Greece has been devastated by ferocious wildfires this summer.

A massive blaze raging over the last two weeks destroyed swathes of the Dadia national park in the northern Evros region.

Artopios told AFP that the Dadia fire front, raging since 19 August, was "under control and no area was active".

"Firefighters are staying in position to survey the situation," he added.

Classified by experts as a "megafire", the blaze raging in Dadia destroyed more than 81,000 hectares (200,155 acres) of the forested area, protected by the European agency Natura 2000.

The devastation in Dadia accounts for almost half the total area burned by wildfires in Greece since the start of the summer, according to the European climate service Copernicus.

Like several Mediterranean countries, Greece faces fierce wildfires every summer, which this year left 26 people dead and at least 150,000 hectares burned.

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