Three dead as Istanbul sees heaviest rainfall in 80 years

Istanbul was battling on Thursday to recover from flooding caused by what officials described as the heaviest rainfall in at least 80 years, as the toll rose to three dead and five missing.

The rain began lashing Turkey's largest city in earnest on Wednesday morning and intensified throughout the day, causing chaos and flash flooding, with footage showing cars being dragged away by the fast-flowing waters.

"We are talking here about the highest level of precipitation in Istanbul since records began in 1942," Istanbul governor Davut Gul said.


The death toll from the floods rose to three when authorities found a man's body near a park in the Kagithane area on the European side, Gul's office said in a statement.

The storm also claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy who was electrocuted when he stepped into a puddle in the Balat area. He was rushed to hospital but medical personnel were unable to save him, officials said.

Five others were missing, officials said.

In Beykoz, on Istanbul's Asian side, DHA news agency said another man had died after falling into a well while trying to drain the water at a school construction site.

There was no immediate official confirmation of his death.

- Dramatic images -

Istanbul municipal teams and firefighters were carrying out cleanup operations at schools, football pitches, garages and other sites on Thursday, pumping water out of flooded areas and clearing mud, an AFP photographer reported.

On Wednesday evening, the governor said schools would be shut across Istanbul until Monday, urging people to stay home "unless absolutely necessary" and advising those living in basement properties "to spend the night on safer, higher floors".

Dramatic footage posted online late Wednesday and collated by DHA showed a line of parked cars in the northern Sariyer district being pushed into the torrent of muddy water, where they were swept away.

Another showed people being hauled from the raging waters to safety through a first-floor window, while elsewhere two people with umbrellas were seen stepping into the shovel of a large mechanical digger, which took them away.

Power and water cuts have also hit areas of the city, notably in Sariyer where shopkeepers could be seen trying to salvage their goods from the mud, an AFP journalist said.

- Floods in other cities -

Heavy rainfall in the nearby province of Sakarya caused a two-storey villa on the banks of a stream to collapse in Sapanca neighbourhood. As the house had been evacuated earlier, no one was killed or injured.

And in the neighbouring Kocaeli province, a stream overflowed in Gebze district, sweeping away a driver who was later rescued by emergency workers with ropes. In another district, Basiskele, one man was missing after being carried away by floodwaters, reports said.

Forty-three flights bound for Istanbul Airport had to be diverted Wednesday, as did three flights heading for Sabiha Gokcen on the Asian side, which temporarily suspended take-offs due to strong winds, the transport ministry said.

Turkey's AFAD disaster agency has set up a crisis desk to manage incidents caused by the heavy rainfall, which by nightfall Wednesday had risen to 1,277 flooding incidents, 15 landslides, 47 people stranded and two roofs blown off.

The heavy rains are expected to continue over the weekend.