The floods in Turkey, caused by the torrential rain that has battered the north-west of the country, brought Istanbul to a standstill last night and have left at least three people dead and four missing in the Turkish metropolis. The heavy rainfall, which reached nearly 270 litres per square metre, has also caused severe damage in other provinces in the north-western region of Anatolia.
The body of a man was found entangled in the pillar of a bridge over a stream in the Kağıthane district, on the European side of Istanbul. It is believed that the victim, aged around 40, was swept away by floodwaters from Sarıyer. Following this discovery, the governor of Istanbul announced that the death toll from the rain had risen to three, whilst the search for four people missing continues.
“The body of a man has been found near Sadabat Park in the Kağıthane district. Identification procedures are under way. The death toll from the rains has risen to three, whilst four people are currently missing,” said the governor, according to reports by Turkish media.
Istanbul experiences its heaviest rainfall in recent years
The rainfall, which began yesterday morning and intensified in the afternoon, flooded homes, shops, roads and underpasses, leaving vehicles submerged and trapping residents in various parts of the city.
The district of Beykoz – on the Asian side of the city – recorded 269.5 litres of rain per square metre between midnight on Tuesday 13th and 7.30 this morning. According to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Disaster Coordination Centre (AKOM), the city has experienced the heaviest rainfall in recent years.
In the Ayazağa neighbourhood, part of the Sarıyer district, several workers who were trapped at their workplaces had to be rescued one by one; emergency teams reached them using excavators and boats, operations which were filmed. Even after dawn, the rain continued and the flooding was still affecting residents of the neighbourhood.
Ayazağa, one of the Istanbul neighbourhoods hardest hit by last night’s rain, was completely submerged. The striking images captured at first light showed how the neighbourhood had been virtually transformed into a lake.
In Arnavutköy, on the outskirts of Istanbul, the Alibey River burst its banks due to heavy rainfall, and the water flooded the road. The current, which surged over the bridge, flooded a school playground. The severe damage caused by the rain could be seen from the air at dawn.
A historic mosque and several roads, completely flooded
In Kağıthane, the overflowing of another river flooded the historic Sadabad Mosque and the surrounding buildings. A vehicle parked in front of the mosque was also partially submerged.
The flooding in this district also necessitated the deployment of rescue operations on Cendere Street, where emergency teams had to use boats and heavy machinery to evacuate people trapped at their workplaces; these operations were captured from the air. Cendere Street connects the districts of Kağıthane, Sarıyer and Eyüpsultan and runs through an area with various factories and businesses.
Schools closed for two days
In view of the persistent rainfall and the risk of further flooding, the authorities have ordered all schools to close today and tomorrow, suspending lessons. They also urged residents to avoid non-essential travel whilst the rain continues to threaten various parts of the city.
“Teams are carrying out thorough inspections to ensure that our schools can provide a safer learning environment. The safety of our children is our top priority. Schools will also remain closed tomorrow,” said the Governor of Istanbul, Davut Gül.
Flooding spreads across Sakarya, Bursa, Kocaeli and Yalova
But Istanbul has not been the only province affected. The heavy rains also caused flooding in other provinces in north-western Turkey, where numerous districts suffered severe damage.
In the province of Sakarya, an orange alert was issued following forecasts of rainfall of between 100 and 200 litres per square metre across the province as a whole. In the centre of the Karasu district and the surrounding neighbourhoods, streets and avenues were flooded by the storm, whilst a parked vehicle was filmed being swept away by the floodwaters.
In Bursa, three people aged 83, 57 and 60 were trapped by the floods in the Çakırca neighbourhood, part of the İznik district, forcing the fire brigade to intervene. An elderly person was rescued initially, whilst the other two, who were unable to leave the area due to the rising water level, were rescued with the aid of a stretcher. According to the latest reports, they are in good health, although they received medical treatment as a precaution.
Search underway for a missing person after a vehicle fell into a river
In Kocaeli, torrential rain that began yesterday afternoon and continued throughout the night caused flooding in several districts. Streets and avenues were submerged, and a search operation was launched after a report was received that a vehicle had fallen into the Kiraz River, in the district of Başiskele, with its driver still inside.
The search efforts focused on a specific area after a tyre was spotted around 500 metres upstream from where operations had initially begun. Footage from a CCTV camera captured the exact moment the car was swept away by the current.
Similarly, in another city in north-western Turkey, Yalova, some 50 km south of Istanbul, heavy rainfall caused a giant hole, some 3.5 metres deep, to appear in the garden of a residential complex in the Karşıyaka neighbourhood. All residents of the block, situated next to a river, had to be evacuated as a precautionary measure due to the risk of further collapses and landslides caused by the floods.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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