Torrential rain turned Istanbul’s hills into rivers on Wednesday and Thursday, killing at least four people, leaving six others missing and trapping more than 3,000 residents until emergency crews reached them by boat, rope and armored vehicles. Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said some districts recorded rainfall of 272 kilograms per square meter, a volume officials tied to the heaviest downpours the megacity has seen in decades.
What authorities are reporting
Çiftçi told reporters at Turkey’s disaster coordination center that three people died in flood-related incidents in Istanbul on Thursday, including a worker who fell into a water-filled construction well in Beykoz while trying to pump it out. A fourth death reported later in the day raised the confirmed toll to four as search teams continued to comb swollen creeks in Sarıyer and Kağıthane.
Six people remained unaccounted for — five in Istanbul and one in neighboring Kocaeli province — as of Çiftçi’s midday briefing. The minister said emergency centers had logged more than 12,000 calls across affected provinces, with Istanbul alone accounting for about 9,755 verified incidents. AFAD, Turkey’s disaster agency, said roughly 46,600 personnel were working in the city, backed by another 11,000 volunteers.
Transit and schools paralyzed
Floodwater poured into metro stations, hospital basements and highway underpasses, snarling commutes on both sides of the Bosporus. Governor Davut Gül said crews had finished evacuating people who were stranded in vehicles and buildings, telling reporters there was “no one left waiting to be rescued” after 3,055 people were brought to safety. Istanbul extended the suspension of in-person classes through Friday as meteorologists warned that another band of rain could arrive overnight.
Video from Sarıyer’s Ayazağa district showed cars piled against guardrails after being swept along Dereboyu Street, while residents in Beykoz posted images of living rooms filled with mud. Xinhua reported that a 14-year-old boy was electrocuted after stepping into a charged puddle in Fatih, and a 34-year-old pedestrian died after slipping into fast-moving water.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s office said emergency funds would be released for damaged neighborhoods, while Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu toured Ayazağa by boat late Thursday. Aid groups warned that mold could spread quickly in ground-floor apartments if humidity lingers into the weekend.
What happens next
The Turkish State Meteorological Service forecast renewed rainfall starting Friday morning, with heavy bands possible through Saturday. Çiftçi said the government had opened public guesthouses for families who could not return home and was distributing thousands of meals through AFAD kitchens.
Opposition mayors in districts that saw repeated flooding demanded faster investment in storm drains, but the immediate focus remained on locating the missing and preventing additional casualties if the next storm arrives as predicted. Insurance assessors were already fanning out in Kağıthane and Beykoz, where shop owners said inventory losses would take weeks to tally.