Heavy snowfall affects most part of Turkey
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05.02.2007
Heavy snowfall affected almost allparts of Turkey yesterday. Transportation cannot be provided to and from a total of 424 villages in the eastern Anatolia due to snow, also troubling the rescue work.
The first tunnel at the Hakkari-Van highway and various locations on the Hakkari-Şırnak highway were blocked due to avalanche. Yüksekova-Şemdinli highway was also blocked due to heavy snow.
In Sivas, transportation cannot be provided to 295 villages. It was reported that communication also cannot be provided with 25 allocation units. Power has been provided to 44 villages due to electricity blackouts. The snow reaches 14 or 16 inches in some places.
Secretary General of Konya Local Government Muammer Sönmez audited the rescue works in the İkipınar village of Meram with correspondents. Sönmez said that roads to 423 villages, measured at 4.880 kilometers are currently blocked due to heavy snow. “Yesterday, 1.200 kilometer-roads to 163 villages were opened. Up until now, rescue work has been conducted in 5.274 kilometer roads in 274 villages in 2006-2007 winter seasonâ€.
Soldiers helped rescue work to open village roads in Hakkari, Yüksekova. All the village roads in Yüksekova were blocked due to heavy snow. Gendarme forces reinforced the rescue teams with street machines. The roads had been blocked for almost a week. A fully-equipped ambulance was also available for possible patients.
THY cancels Istanbul flights to Van, Konya and Kayseri. Meanwhile, the first snow of the last three years started early morning in Izmir. Izmir Weather Bureau official Ersan Dündar warned that the snow will continue at intervals in Izmir.
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