ANKARA (AFP) - Three villagers and a rescue worker were swept away by flood waters and drowned and a number of others were reported missing when heavy storms caused flooding in and around Antalya in southern Turkey, the news agency Anatolia said.
Earlier at least six people including a child and a fireman were reported missing in the flooding, it said.
The town and surrounding areas were hit for 48 hours by torrential rain and gale-force winds.
Emergency services were out in force to rescue residents at risk from flood waters, the report said.
The local governor reported winds up to 93 kilometres (56 miles) an hour.
Rainfall in the Antalya area was heavier in the course of one day than was normal for a whole month, weather experts were quoted as saying.
At least four drowned in Turkish floods
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ANKARA (AFP) - At least six people died and two were unaccounted for after severe windswept rainstorms lashed large parts of southern Turkey over the Christmas period, local officials said.
The popular coastal tourist resort of Antalya was the focus of the devastation as bridges collapsed, fields were flooded and several houses were swept away during the atrocious weather, which lasted for three days.
"We have for the moment recorded six deaths and two missing persons," the Mediterranean town's mayor Bekir Kumbul told local news channel NTV.
One person described as missing in an earlier report has since been confirmed dead.
A child was among the victims, according to the Turkish Anatolia news agency.
Emergency rescue teams took advantage of Friday's daylight hours to try to find those missing and to struggle through to more remote villages cut off by flood waters gushing from swollen rivers.
During the height of the storm winds gusted at up to 98 kilometres per hour (52 miles per hour) in the picturesque resort and Antalya received more rain in a single day that it normally gets in one month, weather experts said.
Tourists in the nearby town of Camyuva had a lucky escape when the high winds uprooted a tree which then toppled onto the bus they were travelling in, Anatolia reported. No one was injured in the incident.
Specialist teams arrived in the principal towns and cities in the region to take the load off local rescue workers.
A young woman and her one-year-old were plucked from the roof of their home in the village of Akdamlar by members of the elite Turkish earthquake search and rescue team AKUT, reports said.
Four small bridges collapsed and several buildings, including a school, were damaged by the flood waters in Antalya. Large swathes of the region's valuable orange groves were also under water.
Schools throughout the region remained closed on Friday while some villages were still without electricity, Anatolia said.
Antalya's governor Alaatin Yuksel said electricity teams were working non-stop to try to restore power, and he added that homes were likely to be reconnected by the end of Friday.
He also decried the fact that homes had been built so close to riverbanks.
Water levels at last began to fall on Friday in several flooded villages, enabling the local authorities to start assessing the damage.
Antalya region, which enjoys eight months of sunshine each year, is one of Turkey's most popular tourist destinations, welcoming millions of foreign visitors each year.
The popular coastal tourist resort of Antalya was the focus of the devastation as bridges collapsed, fields were flooded and several houses were swept away during the atrocious weather, which lasted for three days.
"We have for the moment recorded six deaths and two missing persons," the Mediterranean town's mayor Bekir Kumbul told local news channel NTV.
One person described as missing in an earlier report has since been confirmed dead.
A child was among the victims, according to the Turkish Anatolia news agency.
Emergency rescue teams took advantage of Friday's daylight hours to try to find those missing and to struggle through to more remote villages cut off by flood waters gushing from swollen rivers.
During the height of the storm winds gusted at up to 98 kilometres per hour (52 miles per hour) in the picturesque resort and Antalya received more rain in a single day that it normally gets in one month, weather experts said.
Tourists in the nearby town of Camyuva had a lucky escape when the high winds uprooted a tree which then toppled onto the bus they were travelling in, Anatolia reported. No one was injured in the incident.
Specialist teams arrived in the principal towns and cities in the region to take the load off local rescue workers.
A young woman and her one-year-old were plucked from the roof of their home in the village of Akdamlar by members of the elite Turkish earthquake search and rescue team AKUT, reports said.
Four small bridges collapsed and several buildings, including a school, were damaged by the flood waters in Antalya. Large swathes of the region's valuable orange groves were also under water.
Schools throughout the region remained closed on Friday while some villages were still without electricity, Anatolia said.
Antalya's governor Alaatin Yuksel said electricity teams were working non-stop to try to restore power, and he added that homes were likely to be reconnected by the end of Friday.
He also decried the fact that homes had been built so close to riverbanks.
Water levels at last began to fall on Friday in several flooded villages, enabling the local authorities to start assessing the damage.
Antalya region, which enjoys eight months of sunshine each year, is one of Turkey's most popular tourist destinations, welcoming millions of foreign visitors each year.
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