Istanbul’s weather to change permanently in future, warns academic

ISTANBUL

Istanbul’s weather will dramatically change and residents will have to brave scorching heat in the summers, an Istanbul Technical University academic has warned.

“Istanbul will become very hot in the summers, making it unbearably hot for citizens, and floods will occur,” Sevinç Asilhan told Demirören News Agency on April 22.

According to the academic, the Earth witnessed a 1.2 Celsius degree increase in heat due to global warming in the last decade.

“Any heat change of 1 or 2 Celsius degrees in Turkey will cause a disaster,” she warned.

When asked what would happen in the worst-case scenario, she said, “Floods and tornadoes could happen. We will see many species going extinct.”

Apart from Istanbul, she also made stark warnings for the eastern provinces of the Black Sea region.

The eastern parts of Black Sea are expected to experience droughts, she said.

She called on officials to take immediate action, pointing to an imminent “loss of life sources.”

“If things go on like this, people will run out of drinkable water. Today, 2.2 billion people [globally] do not have access to water that is of good quality. Around 6,000 children die daily due to the lack of water.”