Snowfall and blizzard hamper efforts to find 13 migrants missing in Van province.
Residents of Göle in the northeastern Ardahan province saw temperatures drop to a record minus 40 degrees on Sunday night. Göle had the unenviable record last year as well, at minus 32.5 degrees.
Freezing temperatures, accompanied by snowfall and blizzards, also cut off access to critical locations in Van province’s Çaldıran district where 13 migrants are believed missing. Search and rescue crews are already blocked by piles of snow in Van’s Bahçesaray where 41 people were killed last week. One person is still missing due to two avalanches.
Van Governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez told İhlas News Agency that “Unfortunately, such cases of migrant deaths happen in the region. Last year, we found about 100 bodies and only after the snow thawed,” he said. The governor says that although they were able to clear the snowed road, blizzards led to their closure almost as soon as the road was cleared. He also warns against the risk of avalanche, especially in Çatak district and urged the public in rural areas not to leave for towns or central Van.
In Aşkale district of Erzurum, temperatures were around minus 35 degrees. The Kars province followed them with a temperature of minus 31 degrees while temperatures dropped to minus 26 degrees in central Ardahan.
Eastern cities also struggled with deepening snow. In Ağrı, snow depth reached 34 cm in central province while ski resorts like Palandöken of Erzurum had a snow depth reaching 84 centimeters.
Food for hungry animals
In Ağrı, Turkish Red Crescent workers left a ton of food for wild animals in rural areas. In the countryside where snow depth reached one meter on higher ground, volunteers scattered grain and vegetables in places near the remote villages where wild animals are known to be roaming.
https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2020/02/10/record-breaking-cold-spell-grips-eastern-turkey
Thanks to Thomas Krassmann for this link
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February 15, 2020 at 01:01PM
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