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Heavy rain caused roads to collapse in Istanbul’s Eyupsultan and Gaziosmanpasa districts on Wednesday and left traffic near a standstill, with congestion citywide reaching about 90% at the evening rush hour as flooding continued.
Police closed off the damaged section of Eyupsultan Boulevard to keep vehicles from falling into the hole, and crews worked with an excavator. Traffic locked up, and commuters struggled to get home. The Istanbul Governor’s Office later said in-person education would be suspended across the province on Thursday.
The collapse in Eyupsultan was reported in front of the district municipality building. A service vehicle trapped in the collapsed section was pulled out, according to local reports. The nearby Tavukcu Creek was reported close to overflowing.
In Gaziosmanpasa’s Yildiztabya neighborhood, roads buckled and 2. Kuyu Street was covered in mud. Students at Yil Primary and Middle School had trouble leaving, and some could not get out of the school garden, according to the Ihlas News Agency. Videos on social media showed the road giving way and rainwater turning into a torrent.
Elsewhere, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality teams said they had responded to 1,901 reports of puddles, overflowing manholes, floods and fallen trees, with 8,392 personnel and 2,246 vehicles and work machines deployed. The municipality’s traffic map put congestion at 89% at 5 p.m. Public transport was also crowded, and the T5 tram ran only between Eminonu and Eyupsultan State Hospital stations.
The flooding was widespread. Floodwater entered Sisli Hamidiye Etfal Hospital in the Cayirbasi area of Sariyer, where crews began pumping it out. Corridors at Mimar Sinan State Hospital in Buyukcekmece were also flooded. Water ran from the ceiling of the Haciosman metro station.
In Sultangazi, the retaining wall of Nurettin Uzun Primary School collapsed. Students were in class and the garden was empty at the time, local media reported. In Kucukcekmece, a man who went back into a flooded basement apartment to fetch medicine was rescued by fire, medical and police teams after the five other residents had left on their own. In Esenyurt, bystanders rescued a woman swept away by floodwater.
Municipality figures put rainfall at 50 to 95 kilograms per square meter in seven northern and central districts, and acting Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality mayor Nuri Aslan said nearly 100 kilograms fell in 12 hours. One kilogram per square meter equals one millimeter.
The Governor’s Office said the adverse weather was affecting many areas of life, “primarily transportation.” It suspended in-person education on Thursday, granted administrative leave to some public employees and banned motorcycles from traffic from 9 p.m. Wednesday until further notice.
Governor Davut Gul asked residents to stay home on Thursday unless necessary. He urged people living in basement apartments to spend the night on higher floors and to avoid creek beds, underpasses and flood-prone areas. Residents with no safe place to stay can call the 112 emergency line, he said.
The Interior Ministry also warned of sudden floods and flooding across several provinces on Wednesday and Thursday. CNN Turk meteorology adviser Orhan Sen, who is not an official, said the heaviest rain would fall between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. and urged those outside to head home early.
The Governor’s Office said Tuesday that rain was expected to continue until Thursday afternoon, with intermittent showers on Friday and into Saturday afternoon. It said temperatures would run 4 to 6 degrees Celsius below seasonal norms, with northerly winds of 40 to 60 kph and gusts of 60 to 80 kph.
Istanbul has seen deadlier floods. In September 2023, about 125 kilograms of rain per square meter fell in under six hours, roughly a typical September’s total, the governor’s office said at the time. At least seven people died in flooding across northwest Türkiye. The city’s governor also suspended in-person education for a day in January ahead of a storm.
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