Four people have died in the Istanbul floods after the heaviest rain in 84 years, and interior minister Mustafa Ciftci said four more are missing. Heavy rain and storms also hit Kocaeli, Sakarya and Bolu provinces.
"At the moment, 4 of our citizens are still missing," Ciftci said. He said 46,000 workers are on duty around the clock in Istanbul, and nearly 60,000 are working across Turkey.
Two days ago, Istanbul had three dead and five missing. Yesterday, rescuers found the body of a 65-year-old man under a bridge in the Ayazaga district of Sariyer, where the Kagithane river burst its banks. That brought the death toll to four. Earlier, one of the five missing people had returned home.
One of the missing is a 63-year-old man who left home to pick up his daughter. His family has had no word from him since 5pm on Wednesday. His car was found yesterday under a bridge near Ayazaga, submerged in the Kagithane river. Crews pulled it out with a crane, but no one was inside.
The car's rear window is smashed, the key is in the ignition and the man's belongings are inside. The search continues in and around the river.
His daughters reported him missing on social media and asked anyone who had seen him to come forward. One wrote that the family does not know if he is alive, that she has lost hope and wants her father found before the storm arrives. She claims he was "killed" and vows to hold someone to account.
The daughter said her father asked her during a phone call at 6pm that day to tell her sister not to come and to send her elsewhere. At that moment the water hit them. His friend shouted that the water was coming, and her father told him to stay calm.
The daughter says that same friend was with him in the flood. He died. His body was found two days ago in the Kagithane river near the Sadabat mosque in the Kagithane Merkez district, and yesterday he was buried in his hometown of Sinop.
The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) has set up a special team to search for the missing, said Birol Yozdal, head of the search and rescue unit in Istanbul. The team is combing the beds of the Kagithane, Cendere, Alibeykoy and Ayazaga rivers, and the Golden Horn, where they flow in. It is using drones and sonar and has a coordination centre. AFAD has 159 staff along the rivers from Ayazaga onwards.
Ciftci and Murat Kurum, minister of environment, urbanisation and climate change, toured Ayazaga, the worst-hit district. Kurum said assessments would be made and all state bodies would help meet people's needs. "We will offer a solution so that not a single citizen is left worse off," he said.
A Sariyer resident whose home was damaged said the river had changed course. People want help from the state and the drains cleaned, because they are exhausted, she said.
Council crews are cleaning and repairing mostly in Beykoz, Sile, Sariyer and Kagithane. They are pumping water out of homes and shops, carrying out household goods, clearing mud and debris from streets and washing roads with tanker trucks. A road collapsed in front of the Eyupsultan municipality building. The spot is fenced off and machinery is working there.
In Ayazaga, on Dereboyu street, cleaning and pumping continue, with help from the gendarmerie. In the Camlittepe district, Sariyer crews are pumping out water that spilled from the river into the lanes. Istanbul's metropolitan municipality is repairing a damaged pedestrian path and collapsed roads. Traders and residents are cleaning their homes and shops themselves.
At the Sadabat mosque, all the water has been pumped back into the river, and officials from the General Directorate of Foundations and the Diyanet religious affairs authority inspected the site. In Sile, the swollen Turknil river left silt and trees, which crews are clearing. The sea near the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus turned brown from the muddy water.
In Kocaeli, where heavy rain and a storm hit on Wednesday, former village head Mustafa Gedikli was swept away by the water in his jeep in the Yayalcik district of Kular, in Basiskele. Marine police found his body in the Gulf of Izmit, off Yarimca, after a search that ran through the night from midday two days ago. It is believed the river carried him into the sea.
Kocaeli governor Ilhami Aktas reported 1,900 call-outs and 267 stranded people rescued. He said 350 households reported flooding, eight buildings were evacuated as a precaution, and seven retaining walls partly or fully collapsed.
The governor's office banned motorcycles, scooters, electric scooters and motorbike couriers from 10am today to 9am tomorrow. Heavy rain is expected from this morning and will get stronger in the afternoon.
In Sakarya, heavy rain has fallen since Wednesday. In the Karanlikdere district of Karasu, the downpour set off a landslide. One partly collapsed house is unfit to live in, and three more are damaged. Soil and rocks surround the buildings, the flooded ground floors are full of mud, and Sakarya's metropolitan municipality and Karasu municipality are hauling away the earth.
Ciftci attended a meeting of the provincial disaster centre at the Sakarya governor's office, then visited the affected Karapurcek municipality. Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas, minister of family and social services, announced aid for the victims' urgent needs: 40m lira each for Kocaeli, Antalya and Sakarya, and 200m lira in total.
Turkey's interior ministry warned of flash floods today and tomorrow in many provinces because of heavy rain and storms. The Bolu governor's office also warned of heavy rain and called on people to be careful.
The carrier Bursa Deniz Otobusleri (BUDO) cancelled 12 trips planned for today because of the bad weather.
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