Nine people, including at least four children, have died in flooding triggered by torrential rains on Turkey's Black Sea coast, the Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday.

Another four people are believed to be missing, including a toddler, after the floods which have prompted the evacuation of a number of riverside villages in and around the Black Sea port city of Samsun.

Rescuers found the bodies of five people in the basement of a block of flats Samsun, which was badly affected by the freak rains. The body of another man was found in the rubble of a bridge which collapsed in rural Samsun.

Three people, among them a six-year-old girl, were also found dead in a car that was swept away by floodwaters after a seven-hour torrent, Anatolia said.

A rescue team of 12 divers are looking for a toddler believed to be in the same car, as well as three others who might have been swept away in their vehicles

The disaster has prompted the evacuation of riverside villages, where hundreds of farm animals drowned before they could be transported.

The heavy rains are are expected to continue throughout the week, local meteorological officials in Samsun have warned.