Some Istanbul Airport flights resumed on Tuesday after nearly 24 hours of cancellations as heavy snowfall clogged roads and stranded thousands of people across Turkey and Greece.
In Athens, thousands were evacuated from a motorway and took shelter at the city’s airport after Monday’s severe snowstorm. By Tuesday, dozens of cars were still covered in snow as ploughs tried to clear roads.
In Istanbul, the airport, among the world’s biggest, was under a thick blanket of snow with runways and planes covered.
The snowfall began late last week and picked up over the past days in the city of 16 million people, delaying buses and ferries and prompting a ban on driving private vehicles.
“We have been here for more than 24 hours already,” said Selim Kilik, who planned to fly to Paris this week. He complained about a lack of staff and information.
An airport spokesperson said limited flights began around 1000 GMT (1.00 p.m.) after a 22-hour delay, and that scheduled flights would resume around midnight.
Turkish Airlines earlier said it had halted all flights until 2100 GMT.
Ugurcan Guller, who was waiting for a domestic flight, said stranded passengers had problems with baggage, tickets and food at Istanbul Airport.
“We have been sleeping on the floor miserably since yesterday,” he said. “We call on the authorities to find a solution for us.”
Snow-covered beaches
Storms swept through the region from Greece and across Turkey, leaving snow on the beaches of the southern resort city of Antalya for the first time in 29 years.
A video posted on social media showed a man skiing through Istanbul’s streets, with people waving as he passed.
Governor Ali Yerlikaya took the rare step of banning private cars until 1000 GMT, while public workers were given leave through Wednesday to keep commutes to a minimum.
Buses were suspended until Wednesday and vehicles arriving from west of the city were barred.
Other footage showed trucks and cars stranded along highways in and around Istanbul. Passage across the Bosphorus Strait reopened on Tuesday, while people were evacuated from stranded vehicles, said Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoglu.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu told Reuters that the snowfall, while causing travel issues, would ease the dry conditions since the summer when the capacity of dams dwindled to multi-year lows.
“Istanbul is dependent on the snow’s blessing. If it doesn’t experience every season as it is intended, different risks await,” Imamoglu said, adding some 10-15 cm of snow had been recorded in the city and 25 cm (9.84 inches) in rural areas. The snow was expected to raise water levels in dams to some 70% as it continued in coming days, he said. “In the end, we are very happy with this snowfall.”
Across the country, about 4,600 people were left stranded on roads and elsewhere, and thousands had been placed in temporary housing, the Disaster and Emergency Authority said.
In Athens, more than 3,500 people had been evacuated by early Tuesday, some abandoning their cars on foot, but around 1,200 cars remained stuck on the Attiki Odos, the capital’s main ring-road, government spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou said.
Heavy snowfall is rare in Athens but the city has now been hit by snowstorms for a second consecutive year.
A blanket of heavy snow covered the Greek capital on Monday, from the Acropolis hill to the coast in the south, disrupting air traffic, bringing transport to a halt and leaving scores of drivers stranded overnight in a highway. As temperatures fell overnight, soldiers handed out food, water and blankets to drivers, some of whom were stranded in their cars for more than 10 hours.
Parts of Athens were hit by power cuts, and the grid operator said crews were working to restore electricity. The storm, named Elpida, was forecast to persist until Wednesday.
Authorities declared Tuesday and Wednesday a public holiday, shutting schools, public offices and private businesses except pharmacies, supermarkets and petrol stations. (Reuters)