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Antalya sets out on road to recovery after fatal floods
The body of Mustafa Dolapçı (51), who died after waiting in a tree for hours for help to arrive amid flooding on Monday, was located in the early morning hours yesterday in a cornfield 15-20 meters from the tree. His body was taken to the Serik State Hospital Morgue for an autopsy.
Dolapçı and his traveling companion, Ali Rıza Türktaş (30), climbed a tree to escape floodwaters that surrounded their vehicle, but due to the presence of power lines in the area, authorities were unable to lift the two to safety via helicopter. It took seven hours before a group of their friends rented a boat and were able to reach the tree, and by that time, Dolapçı had already been swept away. Türktaş was saved and is being treated in a hospital. The fact that a group of locals reached the two after officials, including the Coast Guard Command, failed to do so for several hours has drawn serious criticism of the authorities.
The discovery of Dolapçı’s body brings the death toll from the flooding and storms up to five, with two victims drowning late on Monday in their cars after a motorway was flooded. A fourth person died in a flash flood after heavy snow melting from the Taurus mountain range in Antalya caused a river to flood its banks, while another man was killed after he was struck by lightning.
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Agricultural damage to affect crops, Valentine’s Day
Torrential rains in Antalya, which began on Sunday, led to the flooding of homes and farms, toppled bridges and wiped out parts of motorways. Winds reached speeds of 96 kilometers per hour (60 miles per hour). The ground and basement floors of many schools in the affected areas were flooded as their retaining walls were destroyed. Power outages are continuing to affect the region due to the destruction of power lines in the storm.
The Aksu and Gebiz rivers overflowed in the storming, flooding a wide swath of agricultural land in the region. “As a result of the heavy rainfall, 2,700 decares of planted land, 1,870 decares of fruit and vegetable gardens and 170 decares of greenhouses were flooded in the Kaş, Demre, Finike and Kumluca districts,” Antalya Governor Alaaddin Yüksel said.
The agricultural damage is a heavy blow to farmers in the region, especially those whose fields were uninsured. The extent of the damage has not yet been assessed, but there is a possibility that prices for vegetables may go up in Turkey following these floods depending on how badly agricultural fields were affected.
In addition, the regional economy will take a serious blow as a result of the damage to greenhouses. Hundreds of decares of flooded greenhouses and flower fields mean that many flowers that would normally be sold in Turkey and to Europe for the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday in addition to the March 8 International Women’s Day are completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, temperatures are expected to increase in Antalya over the next few days, but rain is also in the forecast.
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