Following an evaluation meeting at the Disaster Coordination Centre (AKOM), Mayor İmamoğlu inspected the affected areas, and emphasised that the city’s problems would be dealt with “as a whole.”
During the inspection, Mayor İmamoğlu was accompanied by IMM Secretary General Mr. Yavuz Erkut, and the Deputy Secretary Generals of the IMM Mr. Orhan Demir, Mr. Murat Yazıcı, and Mr. Murat Kalkanlı.
“Istanbul is not a city that can be sustained with band-aid measures. If there is a shortcoming, we have to take decisive steps in order to implement permanent solutions. With this understanding, all our colleagues will continue their work next week. We will also keep you up to date with any information we obtain.”
Mayor Imamoğlu was briefed by his aides about the incidents. He first visited the underground bazaars in Eminönü and listened to the problems of the shopkeepers there. Here, the Mayor said that the rainfall warning from the State Meteorological Service had reached them at 12.30 PM on August 17, but the heavy showers had already started in the city by this time.
Drawing attention to the delayed flow of information from the State Meteorological Service to AKOM, the Mayor said: “I have deliberately double-checked the information provided to AKOM. The rain warning came to us from the Meteorological Service at 12.30. At this hour, the rain had already started. 15-20 minutes later, a downpour of 114 kilograms per square meter per hour started. Therefore, the warning from the Meteorological Service was too late. It was reported as ‘medium severity’ with about 40 kilograms of rain, but there is a very big difference.”
“I have talked with our Secretary General and instructed him to start an immediate study of the infrastructure, specifically to determine the areas that were at risk during similar disasters in Istanbul in the past 20-25 years.” İmamoğlu told reporters at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Disaster Coordination Center (AKOM).
