Tuesday’s heavy rain hit Şile, on the Black Sea coast of Istanbul’s Anatolian side, harder than any other part of the city. Streams overflowed, roads and gardens flooded, and part of a bridge was damaged and closed, according to reports by the İHA, AA and DHA news agencies.
The Istanbul Governor’s Office had named Şile, Beykoz, Sarıyer, Arnavutköy and Eyüpsultan as the districts most at risk in its warning on Monday, as we reported.
Highest rainfall in the city
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s disaster coordination centre (AKOM) said Darlık in Şile recorded the most rain in the city since the morning, at 83.9 kilograms per square metre. The next highest readings were 36.3 kg/m² on Aydos Dağı in Kartal, 33.5 at Anadolu Feneri in Beykoz, 33.2 in Kilyos, 30.4 at the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, 29.9 in Ömerli (Çekmeköy) and 26.8 around Sabiha Gökçen Airport.
AKOM said a strong northerly wind accompanied the rain and the air temperature fell to 12°C. The municipality said 8,623 staff and 2,394 vehicles and machines from the fire brigade, the water utility İSKİ, road maintenance and other units were responding to calls across the city.
Bridge closed, homes flooded
In Alacalı, a creek overflowed at around 11:30 and partly damaged a bridge on Anayol Caddesi, DHA reported. Teams taped off the bridge and closed it to vehicles and pedestrians in both directions. Some nearby homes and businesses were flooded.
In central Şile, the Yeniköy stream burst its banks and flooded Üsküdar Caddesi, İHA and AA reported. Goods displayed outside some shops on Cumhuriyet Caddesi were swept away, and the state water authority DSİ began work on the Pot and Kabakoz streams, Milliyet reported. A garden wall collapsed at one building, whose garden and ground floor were flooded.
In Ahmetli village, three elderly siblings, one of them bedridden, were stuck in their house as water surrounded it and asked a passer-by to call the municipality for help, İHA reported. Elsewhere in the district, a driver whose car was submerged climbed onto its roof.
Earlier on Tuesday, the rain flooded streets and underpasses in Tuzla and Pendik and led to cancelled İDO and BUDO ferry sailings. In Tuzla’s Aydınlı neighbourhood, 41 workers were taken off two stranded shuttle buses and the road was closed, according to Milliyet.
More rain this week
AKOM said temperatures in Istanbul would stay between 13°C and 16°C, below seasonal norms, over the next seven days, with intermittent and locally heavy showers. It linked the weather to cold air arriving from the Balkans and rain systems from the eastern Mediterranean. More on the city is in our Istanbul guide.
Sources
- İstanbul’da sağanak kabusu! Şile’de yollar göle döndü, 3 kardeş evde mahsur kaldı (Türkiye Gazetesi / İHA-AA)
- Şile’de sağanak, köprünün bir bölümünü hasarlandırdı (DHA via Habererk)
- Sağanak İstanbul’a geri döndü: En fazla yağış nereye düştü? (Cumhuriyet)
- İstanbul’da kuvvetli yağış: Yollar göle döndü (Milliyet)
Photo: Karakalem / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
