Insurance companies have set aside nearly TL 2 billion (about $40.4 million) as of Monday to cover damage from last week's record rainfall and flooding in Istanbul and five other provinces, according to the Insurance Association of Türkiye.
The amount is an estimate of what insurers expect to owe on filed claims, and only a small fraction has been paid so far.
The historic rainfall, which officials said was the heaviest since records began in 1942, caused chaos and flash flooding, with footage showing cars and people being dragged away by the fast-flowing waters.
Six died in Istanbul, while the bodies of two more people from the neighboring Kocaeli province were washed up on the southeastern outskirts of the megacity, Istanbul governor Davut Gül told reporters on Monday.
So far, authorities have received nearly 20,000 reports about property damage as a result of the torrential rainfall and the resulting floods, Gül said.
"We experienced a disaster that generated around 19,300 reports, each with different types of problems. At this point, it has been determined that around 2,000 homes and about 900 businesses ... have suffered serious damage," he said.
On Friday, the authorities paid out TL 10,000 to 5,200 affected residents and were to pay out the same amount to another 2,500 people on Monday, he said.
The amounts insurers estimate they will owe on filed claims as of Monday stood at over TL 1.9 billion across 2,379 damage files under flood and inundation coverage in fire and motor policies, a report by Anadolu Agency (AA) said.
The affected provinces are Istanbul, Kocaeli, Yalova, Bursa and Sakarya in northwestern Türkiye's Marmara region, and Antalya on the Mediterranean coast in the south. Kocaeli lies just east of Istanbul, and Sakarya lies further east.
In the fire branch, which covers fire, natural disaster and home insurance, insurers reserved nearly TL 1.56 billion for 1,638 files. In the motor own-damage branch, they reserved TL 345.75 million for 741 files.
Istanbul has the largest share in both. In fire insurance, reserves for Istanbul reached about TL 1.39 billion and for Kocaeli about TL 164 million. In motor insurance, Istanbul's reserves were about TL 312 million.
Insurers have paid 13 claims totaling TL 389,535 in the fire branch. No payments have been made yet in the motor branch.
Policyholders have filed 2,453 damage notifications in all: 1,703 in the fire branch and 750 in the motor branch.
In fire insurance, Istanbul has 1,486 notifications, of which 12 files have received payments totaling TL 382,886. By segment, residential policyholders filed 821 notifications and 11 were paid, totaling TL 378,263. Commercial policyholders filed 563 and one was paid, totaling TL 4,623. The 102 industrial notifications have received no payments yet.
Kocaeli has 179 fire notifications, with one payment of TL 6,649 on a residential claim. Yalova filed 18, Antalya 14 and Bursa six.
In motor insurance, Istanbul has 670 notifications, Kocaeli and Antalya 35 each, Sakarya nine and Yalova one. Bursa has none.
