Six people were killed and 52 wounded in a major hurricane that swept through Turkey.
Four people were killed in Turkey’s commercial center, Istanbul, home to 16 million people, and three of the injured are in serious condition. Trees were uprooted, the roofs of houses were torn off, minarets of mosques were fallen and the famous clock tower was destroyed.
“Due to adverse weather conditions caused by southwest winds that have been in effect in Istanbul since this morning, four people were killed, one of whom was a foreign national and three of whom were our citizens; 19 of our citizens were injured, three of whom are in critical condition,” the Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement.
According to Turkey’s General Directorate of Meteorology, wind speeds reached 130 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour) in one of the country’s most violent hurricanes on record. Turkey often has southwest winds, known as Lodos winds, but their speed this time, as well as the damage they caused, is unusual for the country.
Schools have been suspended in ten cities, and motorcycle traffic has been banned in Istanbul. Maritime activity along the Bosphorus Strait has also been closed to two-way maritime traffic.
