The heavy rain and storms in Istanbul, which began yesterday, continued this morning and started to intensify after midday, causing numerous incidents and flooding in various parts of the city, where traffic congestion exceeded 80% due to the rainfall.
The Turkish General Directorate of Meteorology, in response to the forecast of a widespread cold snap across the country, issued a yellow alert for 17 provinces, including Istanbul. The authorities advised the public to take extreme precautions due to the risk of storms, flooding and transport disruption.
“Not a single centimetre of land in Türkiye will remain dry today. It is raining everywhere. This does not happen always. The rain continues. In some places, the rainfall is heavy. The areas particularly affected are the coast of the Black Sea, coastal areas, the eastern part of the Marmara region, Tekirdağ, Çanakkale, Batman, Siirt and Bitlis. Heavy rain is also being recorded in Osmaniye and Hatay,” said meteorological expert Orhan Şen, as reported by the newspaper Hürriyet.
Professor Şen also warned that temperatures will begin to fall from tomorrow, Thursday, and that the situation will be somewhat more complicated in Anatolia, where snowfall is expected from Friday.
The sky over Istanbul darkens in broad daylight due to the storm
Following the weather warnings, the sky over Istanbul suddenly darkened. Thick black clouds covered the city, turning day into night: a phenomenon that was particularly intense over the historic peninsula and the Bosphorus Strait, obscuring much of the city skyline.
Rainfall reached significant levels, of up to 50 litres per square metre in some areas, accompanied by strong northerly winds with maximum gusts reaching 70 km/h.
The rain particularly affected the Levent neighbourhood and its surroundings on the European side of Istanbul, as well as the Ümraniye district on the Asian side. In Sultangazi, on the European side, the heavy rainfall caused a section of road to collapse, creating a large sinkhole that hampered traffic flow. Several vehicles were trapped, whilst other drivers struggled to get through the area.
Winter-like temperatures
The rain also turned numerous streets in the districts of Şişli and Beşiktaş into pools of water. An underpass on Nispetiye Street in Beşiktaş was flooded and had to be closed to traffic. During the afternoon, the rainfall also spread to Kağıthane and Sarıyer, along the European side of Istanbul, where drivers found it difficult to drive on the roads due to the flooding.
Meanwhile, in other provinces of Turkey, three water spouts or tornadoes that formed simultaneously in the Sea of Marmara, off the coast of the Karacabey district in Bursa, were filmed by witnesses on their mobile phones. The columns of water, rising from the sea surface towards the sky, were captured on camera from the beach.
The Risk and Disaster Management Centre (AKOM) of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality had been warning residents since yesterday about the heavy rain and storms forecast for Wednesday 4 November 2026. According to the weather forecast, the bad weather will begin to ease on Thursday and conditions are expected to improve in Istanbul from Friday onwards, although temperatures will remain between 12 and 14 degrees – typical of winter – until the weekend, including Sunday.
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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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