Heavy rain and thunderstorms swept across Türkiye’s Mediterranean and Aegean coast on Oct. 14, flooding streets in Antalya, forcing the evacuation of 22 people in the district of Demre and damaging a popular beach in Muğla province, before the weather cleared on the morning of Oct. 15.
The storms were part of a wider system that brought weather warnings to 18 provinces, including Antalya, Muğla, Aydın and İzmir, and caused severe flooding in Istanbul on the same day.
Demre school evacuated
In Demre, a farming and tourism district west of Antalya known for the ancient city of Myra, 13 students and seven teachers were trapped in a school in the Çevreli neighbourhood and later moved to safety, the Antalya governor’s office said. Two people stuck in a greenhouse in the same district were also evacuated. Officials said all 22 were in good health.
Flooding at the Yavu crossing, at the 14th kilometre of the Kaş-Demre state road, disrupted traffic on the coastal route until the water receded and the road reopened in both directions at around 20:30.
The governor’s office said 1,901 personnel were deployed across the province with 624 vehicles, 248 construction machines, five boats and more than 260 pumps.
In Antalya city, underpasses and main roads flooded as the rain intensified in the evening. Some streets in the historic Kaleiçi quarter turned into streams, water rose to knee height in parts of Kepez and several apartment basements flooded.
By the morning of Oct. 15 the city centre woke to sunshine, with the rain having turned to snow on the higher slopes of the Beydağları range, which rises to 3,086 metres behind the city.
Muğla coast: beach and boats hit
In Muğla, runoff from the mountains carried much of the sand on Akyaka beach in Ula district into the sea, leaving pits and cracks along about 300 metres of shoreline and sweeping some sunbeds and umbrellas belonging to beach businesses into the water. Akyaka, on the Gulf of Gökova, is a well-known kitesurfing spot.
In Bodrum, a 15-metre sailboat, valued at around 2.5 million lira, ran aground at Kumbahçe beach in winds of up to 40 km/h. Off Fethiye, coast safety teams rescued two people from a 24-metre boat that was drifting in rough seas.
Further north, rain and wind flooded roads and caused manholes to overflow in Kuşadası, in Aydın province.
What residents should know
The Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM) publishes colour-coded warnings, with yellow and orange the most common in autumn, on its website and app. Residents in low-lying coastal areas are advised to avoid underpasses during heavy rain, keep basements clear of valuables and report flooding to the 112 emergency line. Autumn storms on the southern coast often arrive suddenly after a long dry summer, when hard-baked ground and blocked drains make flash flooding more likely.
Sources
- Antalya’da sağanak nedeniyle mahsur kalan 22 kişi kurtarıldı (İHA)
- Muğla’da sağanak Akyaka sahilini harabeye çevirdi (İHA)
- Sağanak eziyeti (Hürriyet)
Photo: Omer Unlu / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
