ISTANBUL
Heavy snowfall hit Turkiye’s largest city Istanbul on Monday, shuttering shopping malls, disrupting traffic, and closing a mega-airport.
After landing the city early in the morning, heavy snowfall caused traffic jams in the city’s working-class districts of Zeytinburnu, Bahcelievler, Sariyer, and Kagithane on the European side.
Some passengers as well as vehicles were stuck due to heavy snow.
In Pendik on the city’s Asian side, a fire truck trying to rescue a vehicle got stuck on the road itself.
Most schools were already closed on Monday for a two-week semester break.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality said in a statement that 1,300 homeless people had been given shelter from the frigid weather in various buildings and hotels.
Every day the municipality is also distributing more than two tons of food at 500 locations for stray animals, the statement added.
Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said that due to heavy snowfall, routes from northwestern Turkiye to Istanbul are closed until further notice.
Yerlikaya also announced that shopping malls in the city will close at 7:30 p.m. local time.
Turkiye's major international aviation hub Istanbul Airport also shut down to flights on Monday due to the snowfall.
