Istanbul continues to endure heavy snowfall that stretched into last night, with certain parts of the city witnessing snow accumulation of up to 80 cm. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), as part of the Winter Crisis Response Operations and alongside ISFALT, relentlessly executes its efforts, mobilizing a staggering 7,421 staff members and 1,582 vehicles and heavy machinery. During a live broadcast from AKOM, IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoglu affirmed the commitment of IMM to mitigating the hardship faced by Istanbul residents in these harsh winter conditions.
To preemptively tackle any city-wide disruptions due to the winter conditions, the Winter Crisis Response Operations in Istanbul are performed round-the-clock. The snowfall intensified last evening, leading to the closure of several roads. Prompt intervention from our teams ensured that the traffic flow was restored at the earliest. With the aid of thirty rescue cranes and tow trucks, IMM was particularly focused on keeping the main traffic arteries functional.
"IMM is Well-Stocked," Asserts Mayor İmamoglu
During a live broadcast from AKOM, Mayor İmamoglu kept the public informed and addressed the concerns related to the available resources. He stated, "In 8 hours, snowfall per square meter amounted to 60 kilograms. There are areas where snow has piled up to 80 cm. Particularly along the northern route, the snow accumulation has, in places, exceeded one meter. On a city-wide scale, snow thickness is mostly between 30-35 cm and 50 cm. We have a substantial stockpile of 133,360 tons of salt. I would like to share that we have utilized approximately 54,000 tons of salt and about 21 tons of solution in this 4-day period."
Addressing the public discourse related to the operations of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and other public entities, İmamoglu noted, "Since day one, our objective has been to ensure synchronized operations, so we're not compensating for each other's shortcomings but instead contributing to each other's efforts. This is our attempt to ease the life of Istanbul residents in these challenging conditions. Whether it is highways or other public institutions, we're striving to minimize problems to the greatest extent possible with their contributions. Of course, there have been certain bottlenecks, particularly the D100 highway, which is an extremely busy region. We spent many hours dealing with the traffic in the direction of Büyükçekmece, Beylikdüzü, Avcılar. But as of 24:00 last night, no part of this route remained uncleared after 03:00-04:00. We managed to restore the flow entirely. Currently, clearance operations continue only on the route from the Beylikdüzü TÜYAP region to the Hadımköy toll booths."
January 25, 2022.
