Türkiye was brought to a complete standstill after torrential rains over October 14 - 15, 2026. The heavy rain triggered massive flash floods and landslides. The downpour began lashing Türkiye's largest city in earnest on Wednesday morning and intensified throughout the day, causing chaos and flash flooding, with footage showing cars being dragged away by the fast-flowing waters.
The downpours have collapsed roads, caused severe sinkholes, and inundated underpasses. Air travel has been severely impacted, with 43 incoming flights diverted from Istanbul Airport due to the extreme weather. Public schools were ordered completely shut across Istanbul and five other provinces on Thursday, October 15, with several universities shifting classes online.
Three deaths have been reported, and four people are missing. A fourteen-year-old boy was electrocuted after stepping in a puddle, while a 34-year-old man lost his balance on a waterlogged road and suffered a fatal head injury. Emergency services rescued hundreds of stranded workers overnight.
All institutions of the state, coordinated primarily by AFAD, are on the ground deploying active disaster response, logistics, and emergency survival aid to the affected provinces. High-capacity water drainage machinery has been deployed to flooded metro stations, underpasses, and key transit highways to pump out standing water and restore municipal functions. The Turkish Red Crescent (Türk Kızılay) and local municipalities have set up mobile distribution networks to provide hot meals, packaged food parcels, and clean drinking water to stranded commuters, emergency workers, and families lacking electricity or gas.
