Istanbul : Then The Rain Came

When the Rain (yağmur) came to Istanbul

Monday 7th September 2009 the sky is a dark blue mysterious angry looking picture this afternoon, having had around about three months of good solid sunshine weather mixed with the odd cloudy day. Today was looking different the dark clouds turning the Bosphorus into a dark mysterious channel of water and the sense of darkness crept over where I live in Tarabya , Sariyer  district. That evening my wife and I were due to got for an evening out to an open top restaurant along the Bosphorus at the Sortie Nightclub with her work colleagues. Fortunately we decided not to attend that evening , a storm was brewing and not relishing an evening of soggy clothes and runny noses.

Back here in Tarabya we could see the lightning in the distance from the Asian side of the Bosphorus , soon after the Bosphorus was lit up by the streaks of lightning has the storm came closer to us on the European side. However no rain of any amount to give any concern. My wife sitting there engrossed in the Turkish version of Deal or No Deal which is a popular TV programme back in England though it is three hours long here and she does not batter an eyelid to what is going on outside has where me I’m in awe of the sky and the Bosphorus being lit up by the storm. Watching the skyline and the minarets light up in the storm is something beautiful yet scary at the same time. To me it is another event in this amazing city. Yes back in England we had storms but nothing has significant to match the scenery you get here in Istanbul.

The following day Tuesday 8th September was different and something else I wont forget . Never have I seen so much rain fall from the heavens has I had seen this day. Probably the closest Ill ever get to a monsoon , shortly after midday the sky changed to that dark mysterious feeling again however this time around , the lightning and the thunder was directly overhead. Has the rain started to fall the crashes of thunder became more frequent and louder ,the rain intensified even more and suddenly the apartment shook from an overhead clap of thunder. At that point I picked up the phone and called my wife to tell her exactly what I was experiencing , it was new to me and I wanted to share it . Figen my wife seems bemused and curious to all these new experiences for me and it is not that England does not offer natural experiences , it is a case that the experiences here are on a larger scale and it is all new to me . At times I feel sixteen all over again entering the big wide world after ten years of school life.

Having shared my excitement I went to the street side of our apartment , we are located at the middle of a street built on the hillside overlooking the Bosphorus . The rain still coming from from the heavens or back in England it is “raining cats and dogs” and from the top of the street the rainwater is running down like a powerful stream . The less fortunate neighbours with apartments situated on the street level are emptying there porches ,scooping the flooding water out with buckets like a sinking raft at sea . The rain still intensifying after an hour the street is now like a running river , the thunderstorm still overhead and yet daily life still goes on in the street with people coming and going and just getting on with it.

By four o’clock it had quietened down and the rain ceased , so I went out to meet my wife from work down by the Bosphorus at Mado in Tarabya , however walking down to the square I could see in the distance those menacing dark clouds coming towards the district again , I was not wrong by five thirty the heavens opened up once again . This time I was not a home in a cosy shelter I was sitting outside drinking Cay and the thunder and lightning was overhead and close enough for me to be concerned and take shelter inside the  Mado Cafe  . Looking outside of the cafe across the Bosphorus the Asian side had disappeared again in the storm clouds,looking the other direction the chaos of taxis and commuters trying to make there way home in this storm was frightening. People driving with such inexperience of the conditions confronting them was scary and reckless ,Istanbul is chaotic enough at this time of the day anyway but add this storm to the equation it is a complete nightmare scene. But has ever you just have to get on with it and put up with it .

Later in the evening we watched the news channels and what I had seen today locally was nothing compared to what they were reporting from other districts in Istanbul and the north west of Turkey .If I thought this was bad well I am glad I was not elsewhere in other districts of Istanbul. There cars were floating , houses were flooded , farmland and cattle destroyed . Still it was another experience of this city , I have seen perfect sunsets from home, I have seen the Bosphorus shine in the sunshine from home , I have seen the minarets glow in the dark from home ,now I have seen Istanbul glow in the thunderstorms from home.Wonder what is next ?.

Overnight the storms and the intense rain returned with a vengeance , in sporadic periods the rain fell often termed has flash floods . The deafening sounds has it pelted against the windows echoed around the apartment,the apartment shook many times throughout the night. Having a sleepless night and knowing full well when dawn breaks the effects would be revealed . I even heard a faint drummer of Ramadan  doing the rounds before dawn break , I was thinking that is dedication but the drummer never came close to us. My wife slept through the whole night and got up for work has normal , however she was to return home with joy with having a day off work has many roads were turned into rivers and streams. However that joy turned to concern has the News channels were all screening unbelievable pictures of chaos and destruction. I had seen TV reports of flooding back in England frequently in the last few years with much farm land and housing estates being destroyed . But I had not seen the impact it had on the main transportation infrastructure system and routes has it did here in Istanbul . I am sure here there will be critics but what I see is not people moaning and complaining but again just getting on with it and dealing with it and I am sure has the day progresses we will hear more on this almost classified natural disaster.

So it did nearly every News agency across the world had a report on this chilling event, it was a natural disaster ,it took life’s , it destroyed the infrastructure and needless to say it cost money . The more I think about the previous night the more I think I was lucky ,my wife had experienced the tragedy of the event on the way to work that morning ,has she attempted to travel to work without making it . So has my twitter  friend @hiberke  said 09/09/09 was the date ,I will let you make the combination out of that date .

Brian Underdown is an Englishman,living in Istanbul, Turkey. Born in England in 1965 and lived in Kent until June 2009. His location in Istanbul Tarabya is situated near the Bosphorus . He has an appetite for Istanbul that grows everyday and thrives on the cities atmosphere and culture.

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