Turkey lashed by howling winds from mega-storm roaring across the Black Sea

September 2014 – TURKEY - Turkey’s meteorology institute warns about a storm in the Black Sea region, as well as the region west of the Mediterranean, starting on the night of Sept. 28, while strong winds have caused damage in several cities, including Istanbul, over the weekend. The storms will hit the provinces west of the Mediterranean on the night of Sept. 28, while the eastern Black Sea region will be affected with strong winds starting Sept. 29, according to the meteorology institution. The institution warned particularly fishermen, as well as citizens in general, about the storm. Storms over the weekend caused damage in many cities, particularly in Istanbul. A road near a construction site has been destroyed, with four cars falling into the large site in the Küçükçekmece district of Istanbul. No one was injured, as the incident took place at around 3:30 a.m. Sept. 28, after heavy rain. Another incident took place in the central Beyoğlu district of Istanbul when a wall behind three buildings was destroyed due to heavy rain and a storm. No casualties or injuries were reported, though the incident caused panic in the Cihangir neighborhood. Istanbul Greater Municipality (İBB) said the storm caused 67 trees to fall down, while the roofs of several buildings collapsed.

The water levels in the city’s dams increased to 20 percent with the recent rains. The municipality said the rain would continue during the night of Sept. 28 and would lose strength in the coming days. Several ferry services between the island of Bozcaada and the Geyikli neighborhood were canceled due to the storm in the north of the Aegean Sea. Several fishing boats sank off of the coast of the resort town Ayvalık in the Aegean province of Balıkesir. Heavy rains caused floods in the southern provinces of Adana and Kahramanmaraş over the weekend. –Hurriyet Daily

A powerful storm in the Black Sea this week swamped a town off the coast of Turkey. The storm swept into Giresun on September 25th, according to Todays Zaman, damaging the town’s firehouse, police station and a number of other buildings. Video posted to YouTube and social media shows the violent waves rolling into streets, carrying away vehicles and smashing into semi trucks. The storm surges continued for several days. –Weather

contribution Lisa M.