Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The death toll from flooding caused by heavy rains in Turkey's Black Sea region this week has risen to 44, emergency officials reported Saturday.
The toll includes 36 deaths in Kastamonu province, seven in Sinop province and one in Bartin province, according to a statement issued by Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority.
In addition to those killed, nine people remained hospitalized while more than 1,000 people were being housed in emergency shelters.
The body of one person who had been reported missing in Bartin was found Saturday, the officials said. That victim was identified as an 85-year-old woman whose body was discovered nearly 2,000 feet from her house after four days of searching, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.
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The search for survivors continued into the weekend with nearly 6,000 rescue workers dispatched to the three provinces.
The flooding was triggered when up to five inches of rain fell across parts of Turkey's Black Sea coast during a 48-hour period on Monday and Tuesday. Floodwaters reached as high as 13 feet high in some areas, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said Thursday.
The downpours and mudslides destroyed three bridges in Kastamonu, caused two more to collapse in Bartin and damaged another in Sinop, officials said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the hardest-hit district in Kastamonu on Friday.
"We will do our best as a state as quickly as possible, and hopefully we will rise from our ashes again," he said, according to the Anadolu Agency.
The floods in northern Turkey came after wildfires ravaged the southern parts of the country earlier this month.
