Storms kill five in Turkey as ‘Lodos’ winds wreak havoc

ISTANBUL

One taxi driver was killed in Bursa on Feb 1 after a crane at a stadium construction site toppled over in the storm. DHA Photo

Five people have been killed due to storms in northern and western Turkey over the past two days.

The northwestern province of Bursa was among the worst hit, with storms bringing winds as fast as 107 kilometers per hour. Two people died and 110 people were injured in the storms in Bursa.

One taxi driver was killed in Bursa on Feb. 1, while his passenger was injured, after a crane at a stadium construction site toppled over in the storm. The collapsing crane also seriously damaged a section of the city’s tram line.



Another Bursa resident, 42-year-old Nefi Beyhan, was killed while trying to tie weights from the roof of his house to the ground. The roof took off in the strong wind and Beyhan was thrown into the air, hitting a nearby wall being killed on the spot.

Insecure roofs cost more lives in other northwestern provinces, with 50-year-old İbrahim Şemdil in Balıkesir and 84-year-old Abdullah Aydemir in Çanakkale both killed due to falling debris from roofs. Kamile Değirmenci, 63, in the Black Sea province of Samsun was killed in similar circumstances.


Istanbul, Çanakkale, Bursa, Balıkesir, Kocaeli, Bilecik, İzmir, Edirne and Tekirdağ were among the provinces most negatively affected. Meanwhile, forest fires in Zonguldak, Samsun and Amasra spread quickly due to the high winds.



Several flights and train services across Turkey have been cancelled, while scores of cargo ships and tankers opted to wait in the Marmara Sea for the storm to pass, rather than traverse the Bosphorus amid waves as high as six meters.