Heavy rain shuts down Istanbul, causing flooding and 3 deaths
Vehicles lie scattered in the aftermath of flooding caused by heavy rains in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Credit: AP/Emrah Gurel
ISTANBUL — A heavy downpour has shut down Istanbul, flooded homes and roads and killed at least three people, officials said Thursday, as rescuers evacuated hundreds of stranded people.
The downpour Wednesday night flooded homes and businesses and inundated roads and underpasses, stranding vehicles and causing traffic chaos in Turkey’s largest city. In some neighborhoods, the floods swept away cars, sending them crashing into one another.
It was the heaviest rainfall in the city in 83 years, said Murat Kurum, the minister for the environment, urbanization and climate change.
The Istanbul governor's office on Thursday reported three deaths in the city and said five other people were reported missing. A 14-year-old was electrocuted after stepping in a puddle at a park in the Fatih district, and a 34-year-old slipped on a sidewalk in the Sariyer district and hit their head, local media reports said. The governor's office said the body of a third victim was discovered near another park in the Kagithane district.
More than 3,000 people who were stranded by the floods were safely evacuated throughout the city, Kurum said.
The minister, who will chair the U.N. climate change conference, COP31, in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya next month, linked the floods to the climate crisis.
“Climate change is no longer an issue of the future; it is the most important issue of today,” he told reporters. "Unfortunately, climate change is affecting rainfall patterns. We are now facing more intense rainfall events.”
Vehicles drive along a partially flooded road during a heavy rain in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. Credit: AP/Omer Hamza Yildiz
In Sakarya province, around 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Istanbul, a two-story house that was built on a riverbed collapsed in the floods, HaberTurk television reported. One person was reported missing in neighboring Kocaeli province.
The country’s weather agency has predicted more showers for Istanbul and the surrounding area in the coming days.
The Istanbul governor’s office extended a school closure order to include Friday, and some state employees were placed on leave Thursday.
Kurum asked residents not to leave their homes. Motorcycles were barred from traffic until further notice.
Sarra Sounds Off, Season 3, Ep 4: Top football teams in action, fantasy update and plays of the week Gregg Sarra sounds off on the Nassau Conference II football matchup between Calhoun at Carey, plus the comeback story of New Hyde Park's Gabriel Peter, an update on the high school fantasy football standings and the plays of the week.
Sarra Sounds Off, Season 3, Ep 4: Top football teams in action, fantasy update and plays of the week Gregg Sarra sounds off on the Nassau Conference II football matchup between Calhoun at Carey, plus the comeback story of New Hyde Park's Gabriel Peter, an update on the high school fantasy football standings and the plays of the week.
