Hotels host 815 homeless people in Istanbul ahead of heavy snow

ISTANBUL

Some 815 homeless people in Istanbul have been accommodated in hotels ahead of heavy snowfalls that are expected to begin by March 10, the province’s governor has said.

“As of today, we are hosting 815 street people at hotels. A new wave of cold weather is expected,” Ali Yerlikaya tweeted on March 8.

Yerlikaya also made a call to the public to report anyone living on the streets to officials.

According to meteorologists, a new wave of cold weather called the “Siberian cold wave” will enter the country on March 10 and show its effect across all 81 provinces until the beginning of next week.

Orhan Şen, a prominent meteorologist, especially warned residents in Istanbul to get prepared for four-day of heavy precipitation.

“Snow will enter the metropolis’ Anatolian side by 6 or 7 a.m. on March 10. But especially on March 12, the city will be blanketed in snow,” he said.

City officials called the upcoming snowfall to be the “most powerful one in the last 35 years.”

“On March 13, some 12 kilos of snow will fall on a meter-square in Istanbul,” officials said.