Istanbul flood: three dead and six missing, alert for new rains

The downpour that hit Istanbul in recent days has caused three deaths, according to what was reported by Turkish Environment Minister Murat Kurum on October 16 from the city’s Afad coordination center. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi announced that there are six reports of missing people: five in Istanbul and one in the nearby province of Kocaeli, where the rains hit with the same intensity.

The scale of the weather event is confirmed by data released by the Turkish newspaper Habertürk, according to which 273 kilograms of rain per square meter fell on Istanbul in a short span of time, a volume that put pressure on the city’s sewage system and hillside areas. Authorities reported that rescue operations have so far involved 3,057 people, while 53 retaining walls have collapsed. The coordination center received a total of 9,755 reports from citizens.

The situation remains under observation: Turkey’s general meteorological directorate has warned of the risk of new heavy rainfall for Saturday, October 17, and Istanbul’s municipal emergency management unit, Akom, keeps the alert active over the city. Searches for the people still missing continue in the hardest-hit areas, with rescue teams deployed in the neighborhoods where the downpour caused the most severe flooding.

The reported toll should be read as the one communicated by Turkish authorities in recent hours: death and missing-person figures in episodes of this kind are typically updated in the following days, as on-the-ground verifications continue. The figures regarding rescue operations and structural damage — collapsed walls, reports received — come from the same official sources cited for the death toll, while the rainfall data comes from a journalistic source independent of the government.

The combination of exceptional rainfall and a new weather alert puts Turkish authorities in a delicate phase: the metropolis’s drainage network, already under strain from the recent episode, will have to face a possible new event within hours. Upcoming official communications will reveal whether the number of missing will decrease as the people being searched for are found, or whether the death toll will need to be revised.