Istanbul’s Bosphorus was closed to all naval traffic early on Jan. 9 due to fog
City ferry lines have been canceled, as the city continued to struggle on a fourth day of heavy snowfall in what the Mayor Kadir Topbaş described as the heaviest snow in seven years.
Meanwhile, Istanbul’s Bosphorus was closed to all naval traffic early on Jan. 9 due to fog caused by heavy snowfall, the Directorate General of Coastal Safety stated.
The passage from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea through the Bosphorus and vice versa has been cut, the statement said.
Along with flights, inter-city and cityline ferry services in Istanbul on some lines were also suspended.
Istanbul’s Fast Ferry and Sea Bus Company (IDO) announced the cancelation of all its inter-city services due to the conditions, while Bursa’s BUDO also canceled many trips to and from Istanbul.
Meteorological officials said they expected snowfall to continue sporadically through Jan. 11, especially in the afternoon hours to the night, creating an additional snow sheet of five centimeters on the southern shores and around 15 centimeters in the central and northern areas.
On Jan. 8, Istanbul Mayor Topbaş said the city was facing its heaviest snowfall since 2009, urging locals to take extra precautions.
“The snow depth has reached 120 centimeters in some places. Around 7,000 municipality personnel and 1,340 vehicles have been worked intensively to struggle against the snow. Some 50,000 tons of salt have been used on the roads and 370 tons of solution have been used so far,” Topbaş added.
He also urged locals to not to go into traffic without winter tires, instead opting for public transportation.
Topbaş said there were not many problems in areas under the authority of the metropolitan municipality but they had faced some problems in motorways as the road network was very broad.
According to the mayor, 762 homeless have been provided shelter, while food and logistic supplies have been given in traffic. An initiative for street animals to protect them from the tough weather conditions is also ongoing, he said.
Topbaş said the dams servicing the city are currently 60 percent full due to the snowfall and the authorities hope they will rise to over 70 percent.