WorldEurope
Istanbul's heaviest rain since 1985 kills two and shuts schools
A 14-year-old boy was electrocuted in a flooded park and a man died after falling on a submerged road. Dozens of flights were diverted and classes were called off in six provinces.
Key points
- Beykoz recorded 242 mm of rain, among the highest totals in the city since 1985.
- Officials logged 1,277 floods and 15 landslides; 47 people were stranded.
- 43 flights that could not land at Istanbul Airport were diverted.
Two people died and much of Istanbul ground to a halt after the city’s heaviest rainfall in decades flooded homes, roads and metro stations overnight into Thursday.
A 14-year-old boy was electrocuted when he stepped into a puddle in Cukurbostan Park in Balat, in the Fatih district. He was taken to hospital unconscious and could not be saved. The governor’s office has opened an investigation, and the source of the current has not been found. In Sariyer, a 34-year-old man lost his footing crossing a flooded road, struck his head on a kerb and died in hospital.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality said some areas had their highest rainfall since 1985. Beykoz, on the Asian side, recorded 242 mm, with Eyupsultan at 190.5 mm and Sariyer at 187.9 mm.
The governor’s office counted 1,277 floods, 15 landslides and 47 cases of people stranded on Wednesday. Roads gave way in Eyupsultan and Gaziosmanpasa, water poured through the ceiling of Haciosman metro station, and bystanders in Esenyurt pulled out a woman swept away by the current. The Kagithane stream burst its banks and flooded the prayer hall of the historic Sadabad Mosque.
Forty-three flights that could not land at Istanbul Airport were diverted, four of them abroad, the Transport Ministry said. Strong winds briefly halted operations at Sabiha Gokcen Airport until 10:02 pm on Wednesday.
Governor Davut Gul told residents to stay home on Thursday unless they had to travel, and urged people in basement flats to move to upper floors and keep away from streambeds and underpasses. Schools were shut in Istanbul and five other provinces, motorcycles and scooters were barred from the roads, and more than 8,000 workers and 2,000 vehicles were sent out. The city’s disaster centre warned that more rain could fall on the Asian side and around the Bosphorus.