A cold front that hit Turkey on Wednesday brought heavy snowfall that paralyzed traffic and shut down schools in the capital while disrupting road and air travel in other cities.
Major roads in downtown Istanbul remained open, although some side streets on the Asian side of the city were closed due to snow. High winds meanwhile forced the cancellation of some ferry services.
City officials said about 3,000 employees worked nonstop to keep the traffic flowing in Istanbul, which has a population of more than 12 million people. Roads to hundreds of villages around Turkey were blocked due to the snow.
Two fishermen have been missing since Tuesday due to storms on Lake Manyas in northwestern Turkey, an official from Balıkesir province told private news channel NTV.
Snow that started in the capital Monday night brought Ankara to a frozen standstill by late Tuesday, halting traffic and catching the city unprepared despite early meteorological warnings.
Residents blamed the Ankara Municipality for not taking the necessary precautions, causing Mayor Melih Gökçek to release statements defending the municipality, and joking that at least the city’s children get to enjoy a break from school to play in the snow.
The snowfall in Ankara was the heaviest in 10 years, meteorologists said. Schools were closed in at least five other Turkish cities due to heavy snowfall.
“There are nearly 4,000 roads and boulevards in Ankara. It is not possible to clear them all immediately,” Gökçek said Wednesday, adding that “there is no disaster; the media is exaggerating the issue.”
Warning signs, however, came Tuesday morning as worried drivers carefully made their way to work through the snow. The blizzard lasted throughout the day, stranding people and cars in the evening, and causing residents to question whether or not the city had actually prepared for the storm.
Some took to Twitter to criticize Gökçek for not taking action before the storm hit. “How can I convince you that we have salted the roads? Maybe you should lick the roads,” the mayor wrote in reply on the social-networking website.
The nearly five-hour commute home on solid ice Tuesday night for many residents was all the proof most needed.
Nurgül Erendaç, a second-year student at Bilkent University, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that the 5:30 p.m. bus she took from the university’s campus arrived at its final stop in central Ankara at 10 p.m. The Bilkent campus is located approximately 12 kilometers outside of the city.
Middle East Technical University had it worse, with students seeking refuge at the library after finding out that transportation home was nearly impossible and two of the campus gates had been closed.
“We had to seek refuge at the library, which is open until 11:30 p.m., but they kicked us out at 9 p.m. I went to the guesthouse, but they told me there was no room, so I had to go to the 24-hour computer lab to stay warm,” said second-year student Mertcan Erdoğan.
Public transportation was also out of the question for many Ankara residents late Tuesday evening. Düşsel Ş. Canavcı, a public-relations specialist for the Ankara Tennis Club, told the Daily News that she waited for an hour after work at her usual bus stop at Ulus, only to be told that the last bus passed by more than two hours before. Minibuses were also scarce, and as Canavcı was unable to find a taxi, she was forced to walk seven kilometers to Aşağı Ayrancı through the storm and heavy pedestrian traffic.
Residents with cars did not have much of an advantage over pedestrians; the icy roads causing drivers to abandon their cars at the first available spot and walk the rest of the way home. Many vehicles were abandoned due to damage caused by the hundreds of car crashes that took place throughout the city, killing at least one person.
Snow continued to fall all day Wednesday at an increasing intensity and the governor’s office announced that schools would remain closed Thursday. Mayor Gökçek warned that weather-related difficulties would continue until the weekend.
The Mediterranean province of Antalya got a pleasant surprise as residents woke up to find their orange and lemon trees covered in white, a first for many locals who had never seen snow before.
İzmir natives also were shocked to discover the first snowfall in the city in the month of March since 1968.
Thousands of villages across the country were unreachable Wednesday due to snowfall.
Although its causing lots of problems, we love snow..!