I am a Turkish ecologist, ornithologist, and conservation biologist at Stanford University Center for Conservation Biology. I am in Istanbul, on my way to our wetland and bird conservation project in Kars, eastern Turkey. My parents live 300 meters away from the Ayamama Stream, which flooded parts of Istanbul today. A lot of people got affected because buildings and roads were built in or near the stream bed, which was flooded.

Where my parents live, in Atakoy, there are no apartment buildings near the stream, just hobby gardens and a construction zone. I watch birds along the stream regularly and was last there only 2 days ago. The stream is extremely polluted, carrying all the industrial waste and sewage of the part of Istanbul that got flooded. Still, there are 3 m tall reedbeds along the stream and I recorded 31 bird species so far. Before it got polluted and industrialized, this stream and surrounding habitats would have supported over 150 bird species, especially during migration.

I went back today at 3PM and it was quite a sight. The bridge I normally walk across had disappeared under reeds and thrash. The stream had risen 3 meters and construction workers told me in the morning it was 5 meters above normal and had flooded their sheds. Ayamama Stream was full of garbage and mud, and a TV set floated past me. The reeds were almost completely covered by water. The reeds you see on the right side of the photos normally form the left border of the stream.

Still, no buildings got flooded in Atakoy and no body got hurt because there were no houses near the stream, mostly green space, construction and hobby gardens. Many watersheds in Istanbul have been built over, often illegally, and this is what happens every a few decades. Yesterday, Istanbul received the highest daily rainfall of the last 80 years. In Ikitelli district, ground zero, 181 milimeters/m² of rain fell in the past 24 hours. That equals 7.24 inches, about the rainfall Phoenix, Arizona gets in an entire year. Most loss of lives and property happened because of illegal, unplanned construction in stream beds and watersheds. Where there was no such construction, like in Atakoy, Ayamama stream rose 5 meters but no one got hurt. All these polluted streams in Istanbul need to be cleaned and turned into green spaces for the public to enjoy. On the other hand, Atakoy itself is built upon former wetlands and is on soft ground. It is prone to earthquakes and flooding is not out of question in the future.

Heavy rain has begun again and even more rain than today is predicted for Saturday. Climate change scenarios predict more rainfall for northern parts of Turkey and such extreme rainfall events and floods are likely to be repeated more regularly.