Uludağ, Bursa, Turkey
© DHAUludağ, Bursa, Turkey
Turkey grappled on Tuesday with cold weather and heavy snowfall that led to the cancellation of flights and ferries in İstanbul and that covered many provinces in the rest of the country, Cihan news agency reported on Tuesday.

The inclement weather caused a number of car accidents, and some schools were forced to close. Authorities warned drivers to take extra care due to the poor weather conditions.

Flights and ferries canceled in İstanbul

Snowfall hit İstanbul's higher elevations early on Tuesday and spread to the rest of the city by the afternoon. Teams from the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and district municipalities salted the roads as a precaution against ice. Many İstanbul residents and visitors enjoyed the snowfall in historic areas such as Sultanahmet and popular tourism spots like Taksim Square.

Turkish Airlines (THY) and the İstanbul Ferry Lines (İDO) announced on Tuesday that certain flights and ferries were canceled due to the harsh weather conditions.

İDO canceled all its intra-city ferry services in İstanbul due to sea conditions. Some of the inter-city ferries, including the Kadıköy-Yenikapı-Bursa ferry and the Yalova / Kartal ferries, were also cancelled.

THY cancelled 143 flights to and from İstanbul and warned of further disruption in the coming days, as the city braces itself for heavy snow on Wednesday.

Pegasus Airlines, Atlasglobal and Onur Air also cancelled 22, 10 and six flights, respectively, due to the snow.



Snowdrift Turkey
Snowdrift Turkey
Six injured in accident in Edirne due to icy road

A midibus in the Süloğlu district of Edirne collided with a truck on the Edirne-Süloğlu Highway on Tuesday morning due to icy road conditions following heavy snow. Six people were pulled out of the midibus after its windows had been broken, and all were taken to the Edirne State Hospital.

Meanwhile, a car overturned when the driver lost control of the vehicle in the Beylikdüzü district of İstanbul.

Snowdrift Turkey
Snowdrift Turkey

Thousands of village roads closed as a result of snowfall

Many villages roads have been closed as a result of snowfall in the southeastern province of Bingöl. An elderly man suffering from a high fever in the Kaşıkçı village of the Karlıova district took nine hours to get to the Bingöl State Hospital, after snow teams cleared the village road. A pregnant woman in the Şaban village of the Karlıova district was also taken to Bingöl State Hospital, after a team from National Medical Rescue (UMKE) had worked six-and-a-half hours to clear the snow on the village road.

A total of 2,500 village roads were closed due to heavy snowfall and storms throughout the eastern provinces of Erzurum, Erzincan, Kars, Ağrı, Ardahan, Erzincan and Iğdır. Snowfall reached up to 76 centimeters in Ağrı, 48 in Erzurum, 23 in Kars and 16 in Erzincan. Teams from the Special Provincial Directorates continued to work to clear snow from the roads on Tuesday.

The lowest temperatures in the region were recorded in Ardahan's Göle district, with minus 27 degrees Celsius, whereas Erzurum saw the temperature drop to minus 18 degrees, Kars saw minus 15 degrees, Muş saw minus 11 degrees and Iğdır reached minus 6 degrees.

Snow also started to fall in the Black Sea provinces of Rize, Trabzon and Samsun on Tuesday. It took an elderly man using a respirator in the Derapazarı district of Rize six hours to get to the Rize Tayyip Erdoğan Research and Teaching Hospital after his village lost power. The snow reached depths of one meter in Rize's city center, while 348 village roads were closed as a result of persistent snowfall across the province.

The snowfall that began on Saturday in Trabzon continued in full force throughout Tuesday, with the temperature falling to minus 5 degrees Celsius at the center of the city on Monday night. The Trabzon Governor's Office released a written statement on Tuesday saying pregnant women and disabled public servants would be given the day off due to the weather conditions.

The depth of the snow in Uludağ, home to one of the most popular ski resorts in the country, reached 205 centimeters, as temperatures on the mountain fell to minus 16 degrees on Monday night.

Snow and extremely cold weather over the past three days have led to the closure of close to 700 village roads in Bitlis and Hakkari provinces. A total of 315 village roads in Bitlis and 382 in Hakkari have been closed due to the heavy snowfall.