Minister Uraloğlu: The rain continues, we have taken the necessary precautions

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu and Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak arrived in Rize to conduct inspections in the districts affected by floods and landslides.

Arriving at Rize-Artvin Airport from Istanbul, Ministers Abdulkadir Uraloğlu and Osman Aşkın Bak, accompanied by AK Party Deputy Chairman Hayati Yazıcı, AFAD President Ali Hamza Pehlivan, and Rize Governor İhsan Selim Baydaş, first inspected the collapsed bridge and road in the Şenyamaç village area of the Ardeşen-Çamlıhemşin highway. Following the inspections, the ministers departed for the İkizdere district.

Speaking to members of the press after the inspections in İkizdere, Minister Uraloğlu said, "The rainfall that began yesterday morning has been effective in the east of Giresun, parts of Trabzon, but mostly in our province of Rize. Since the beginning of the rainfall, some regions have received up to 276 kg of rain. This is an amount equal to 10 percent of the rain that falls in a year. Following the warnings from the meteorological service, settlements, especially those along the stream banks, were evacuated starting from yesterday evening under the coordination of our governors and mayors. Thank God, we have not had any loss of life. The rain is still continuing," he said.

THE DISASTER AFFECTED 3 POINTS

Noting that the disaster was effective at 3 points, Uraloğlu said, "There is damage in places on the road between Ardeşen and Çamlıhemşin, and transportation is being provided, albeit on a single lane. However, between Ayder and Çamlıhemşin, the road is cut off at several points, especially in areas close to tunnel construction sites. Transportation is provided via remote highland roads, but these are used for emergency situations. Our teams there are immediately on the job and continuing to intervene; the rain continues and the water level has risen significantly. We also went to Çayeli Kaptanpaşa. The road is cut off at a single point there. Transportation is provided via alternative village roads. There is no major problem there. Our teams will likely complete the passage there by intervening in the morning hours.

On the İyidere-İkizdere road, which is our most important road between Rize and Erzurum, the bridge could not carry the cross-section, the water, and the flow rate due to the very intense flow of water coming from a side stream 2 km from İkizdere and the swelling of the main stream, and because it flowed over the bridge, we cannot provide a crossing right behind us at the moment. Unfortunately, the teams do not yet have the opportunity to work due to the flow rate, but we are monitoring it. We are hosting the teams waiting in our district of İkizdere, right behind us.

With our AFAD, our Red Crescent, our municipality, our governor's office, and our district governor's office. As soon as we open this place, we will have opened the main road to traffic. The rain continues. We have taken the necessary precautions. There is currently no problem in terms of teams and equipment. In today's incident, five of our citizens were injured on this same İkizdere road as a result of a vehicle falling into a pothole that formed on the road.

Their health status is good, thank God. They have no life-threatening injuries. Together with our entire team, we will monitor the night and the following morning. May God Almighty protect us from worse. As I said, the fact that we have no loss of life is a consolation for us. The severity and scale of the incident have spread across a truly wide geography. We are following it closely with our delegation. Get well soon again," he said.

"EVACUATION OF FACILITIES IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT"

Minister Bak said in his statement, "Our President gave us instructions. We came with the Minister. Everyone is at their post, working in a controlled manner. Of course, our request to our citizens is please do not approach the stream banks. Do not stay in dangerous places. Take care of yourselves. It is very, very important. The governor's office is making frequent announcements.

Our village headmen and relevant individuals, and district governor's offices are making announcements in the villages. Of course, due to climate change, these types of heavy rainfall occurring due to rain regimes, the high rainfall reaching 270 kilograms as the minister also stated, the rain continues. We will stay here, we are following it. All teams are in the field.

Especially the evacuation of facilities, bungalow-type places, and hotels is very, very important. We are very, very happy that there is no loss of life. We say it again. We are warning. Please let us stay away from stream banks and risky places. This is very, very important. 33 village roads were closed. They opened 23 of them. Currently, 10 village roads are closed," he shared.