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Istanbul’s famously blue Bosphorus strait has turned a muddy brown in places after a night of heavy rain, with footage showing a sharp line between clear water and sediment-choked floodwater stretching roughly 200 meters from the shore.
The downpour began after midnight and intensified through the morning, swelling streams and drainage channels across several districts of the city of some 16 million people.
As the water surged downhill, it carried silt and sediment into the strait, where it spread out in a brown plume.
Near the shore, the sea looks less like part of one of the world’s most celebrated waterways and more like a river in flood. Farther out, the usual turquoise and deep blue return, and the two colors meet along a clearly visible edge.
The contrast is so sharp because of the strait’s calm surface in some sections. Fresh, sediment-laden runoff and saltwater do not mix right away, so the muddy water sits in a distinct layer on top, creating what looks like two separate seas side by side.
Environmental expert Prof. Dr. Bayram Ozturk says such scenes are a typical result of intense rainfall, which rapidly increases the amount of material washed in from land.
The color is expected to fade as the rain eases and currents mix the water, though how long that takes depends on the weather and flow in the strait.
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