Turkish rescue workers are searching through the rubble left behind from flash floods that killed at least 44 people and hospitalized nine more.

The country's disaster agency AFAD has been combing the wreckage since floods crashed through the area on Wednesday.

It currently has 5,820 personal, 20 helicopters, two search planes and 20 rescue dogs looking through the affected areas. 

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The deaths occurred in three provinces around the Black Sea, with 36 people dead in Kastamonu and others in Bartin and Sinop.

While Kastamonu province was the worst-hit area, the destruction was so severe in the village of Babacay in Sinop province that two bridges and 40 houses were destroyed.

"This is unprecedented. There is no power. The mobile phones were dead. There was no reception. You couldn't receive news from anyone," said Ilyas Kalabalik, one of the relatives of a missing person still waiting anxiously to hear about their families.

"My aunt's children are there. My aunt is missing, her husband is missing, her twin grandchildren are missing. The wife of our building manager is missing along with their two children."

Around 2,250 people were evacuated because of the floods.

Residents have accused local authorities of not giving them enough warning before the floods – and allowing several buildings to be built in a flood zone.

An eight-story building that was constructed on the banks of the Ezine river in Kastamonu province collapsed. 

And while experts agree that climate change will make natural disasters more intense and frequent, experts in Turkey believe that interference with rivers contributed to the effects of the flash floods.

For example, construction in Kastamonu province narrowed the riverbed and flood plain from 400 meters to 15 meters in Bozkurt, the place with the most severe damage.