Downpour pummels İstanbul, leads to flash floods

Sundays Zaman
Sun, 23 Aug 2015 10:54 UTC

© Cihan/ DHA/Today's Zaman

People in Üsküdar, which was inundated with water, had difficulty walking in the streets.

A continuous downpour that began late on Saturday in Istanbul caused flash floods and disrupted traffic and daily life in some parts of the city up until Sunday afternoon.

The downpour started on Saturday evening, and the rain continued throughout the night, after which the temperature in the city returned to the seasonal norm. While some parts of Istanbul witnessed light rain, others were heavily affected by the showers.

People who were caught out in the rain without umbrellas in Taksim took shelter under shop canopies.

Heavy rain paralyzed traffic and daily life in some areas. One of the districts hardest hit by the rain was Üsküdar on the Asian side of Istanbul. People in the district, which was inundated with water, had difficulty walking in the streets and in moving their vehicles.

The constant rain also caused floods in the city, especially at the TEM highway's hasdal junction. Many vehicles on the highway became trapped in the floodwaters caused by the heavy rain. Some passengers in vehicles waited to be rescued, while others tried to escape the trapped cars on their own.