Istanbul received rainfall late Wednesday and early Thursday. Rainfall triggered floods and slowed down the traffic in the Turkish megalopolis.
Esenyurt, on the European side of the city, which is the most populated district in Istanbul and Türkiye with a population of more than 977,000 people, was the worst-hit place. Streets and some buildings, particularly houses with basement floors, were inundated with water while people barely escaped from being drifted away by raging waters.
Apart from Esenyurt, rainfall particularly affected Beyoğlu, Fatih, Zeytinburnu, Bayrampaşa and Beşiktaş districts, forcing commuters to seek shelter from downpours.
In Esenyurt, which has been subject to deadly floods in the past, people struggled to empty floodwaters from houses and shops, while photos from the area showed people piling sandbags outside a mosque that has been flooded in the past. Part of a street collapsed under the weight of raging waters while residents sought assistance from authorities to pump out water from their homes and shops.
On a steep street in Esenyurt, people caught in the middle of rapidly flowing floodwaters were rescued by passersby. One footage showed a boy being carried away by water before he managed to grab the bumper of a car, also being carried away by the water. People on the street grabbed the boy and pulled him to safety, along with another woman trying to cross the street when she lost balance and fell into floodwaters.
“It happened within five minutes; water was everywhere,” Hayrettin Irmak, a shopkeeper, told Demirören News Agency (DHA). Irmak complained that floods hit Esenyurt at least three times every year.
Governor Ali Yerlikaya visited the Pınar neighborhood, the worst-hit part of Esenyurt and heard about the problems of people affected by floods.
Infrastructure such as drainage is blamed for worsening the impact of downpours in Esenyurt as the locals complain that it fails to meet the needs of the rising population. Haramidere stream crossing through the district also aggravates the impact.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu told reporters that the situation in Esenyurt was the result of “about 20 minutes of rainfall in an area with chronic problems.” He listed the chronic problems as the construction of “hundreds of residences” on the river bed and said they were working to eliminate the problem by improving infrastructure. İmamoğlu also warned that downpours would continue on Friday in the city.
