Heavy snowfall, cold take over the country

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Children enjoy the snow as cold weather encompasses Turkey. Access to 1,333 villages in eastern Turkey has been completely severed due to rough weather conditions. AA photo

Heavy snowfall and blizzards continued to paralyze daily life in Turkey, especially in eastern provinces, yesterday, as meteorology officials warned the current climactic conditions in the country would continue to progressively worsen until the weekend.

Access to 1,333 villages in eastern Turkey has been completely severed due to rough weather conditions and heavy snowfall that began overnight, while 15 teachers were stranded in a minibus for an hour in the district of Korkut in the eastern province of Muş, according to reports.

Schools have also been canceled for three days in Muş’s Varto district; students will not resume their classes until Feb. 13.

Istanbul’s Bosphorus was closed to shipping yesterday due to adverse weather conditions while Turkish Airlines canceled at least 84 domestic and international flights, mainly due to snowfall and icing in other airports. Many flights, particularly those going to Ankara, İzmir and Antalya, have also been merged and delayed, according to reports.

The General Directorate of Meteorology warned snowfall will badly affect Istanbul in upcoming days. “Some 1,250 homeless people were placed in the Metin Oktay Sports Hall on Jan. 26, when the heavy snow first hit the city; 876 of them left the facility, but 376 are still living there,” Istanbul Municipality said in a written statement yesterday.