A strong storm hit in morning hours istanbul. Hurricane lodos wind, which blows from the sea to the coast, paralyzes life in the metropolis, reports BTA.
According to the Turkish media, the storm has caused chaos in air traffic.
The wind in the area of Istanbul Airport, blowing with a force of 41 knots, prevented the planes from landing at the airport and they circled in the air, the NTV TV channel informed.
The storm also blocked maritime traffic in the Sea of Marmara. The movement of passenger ships and catamarans has been canceled between the European and Asian ports of Istanbul and the Princes' Islands, and in the direction of Yalova and Bursa.
Two cargo ships anchored in the Sea of Marmara near Kartal on the Asian coast were dragged by the wind and collided, Haber Global reported. There are no reports of casualties or damage.
Giant waves exceeding 2 meters in height have formed in the Sea of Marmara and flooded the coast of Ambarla and Arnavutkoy districts on the European coast of Istanbul. Coastal establishments were evacuated, fishermen pulled their boats inland.
The storm also hit the Asian districts of the city of Kadakui, Kalamush, some of which were also flooded by waves 3-4 meters high.
In another coastal district of Bakırköy, the wind uprooted trees that fell on parked cars and damaged them, Demirjoren news agency reported.
The weather service said that the storm is expected to continue to rage tomorrow, likely to intensify, and temperatures will drop by 6-7 degrees compared to the previous days, when they were around 15-16 degrees.
AFAD, the government's natural disaster and crisis response agency, is sending text messages warning citizens to stay away from coasts, not to travel by sea, and about possible storms and floods.
In Antalya, Friday was declared a non-attendance day.
Lodos is a strong southwesterly wind that appears episodically during these months in the Aegean and Marmara Seas, as well as year-round along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Lodoss is accompanied by relatively warm weather and often leads to the formation of high waves and can cause sudden storms.