Zaman newspaper said the region was seeing its worst flooding in half a century. Television and newspapers showed local people being evacuated from their homes by boat or trying to clear up the mess as the waters recede. The new deaths occurred in the town of Batman on Wednesday evening, officials said, as rivers swelled by torrential rains flooded streets and toppled buildings, triggering a major rescue operation. Troops joined rescue services in helping to evacuate homes. Local authorities opened up municipal facilities such as sports centres to house families fleeing the disaster.
Children as young as two were among the dead in Batman. At least seven people were treated for injuries in hospital. People were also evacuated from their homes in the town of Elazig further to the north-west.
Two people are still missing in Diyarbakir, main city of the mainly Kurdish region, which was hit by floods on Tuesday night.
Roads linking Batman to Diyarbakir and other towns were closed to traffic.
More heavy rain is predicted for Turkey in the coming days.
The Milliyet daily attributed the high death toll in the south-east to shoddy construction and creaking infrastructure.
"Neglect, not fate," its headline read above a picture of flooded streets.
Turkey's largest city Istanbul, some 1,300 km north-west of Diyarbakir, and the Mediterranean cities of Antalya and Mersin have also suffered flooding in recent days.

Copyright Reuters, 2006