Second Body Recovered From İzmit Bay After Istanbul, Kocaeli Flooding
The death toll from flooding in Istanbul and Kocaeli, Turkey, rose to five on Oct. 16, 2026, after the body of Mustafa Gedikli, a former neighborhood headman swept away by floodwaters in Kocaeli, was recovered from İzmit Bay, Habertürk and Cumhuriyet reported.
Gedikli, the former headman of Kocaeli's Yaylacık neighborhood, went missing when his car was swept away by floodwaters in Kullar, Başiskele, while driving home with his wife during the flooding that struck Kocaeli on Oct. 15, 2026, the outlet reported. Crews found his body in İzmit Bay, it said.
The toll also includes Turgut Dursun, whose body was recovered in Istanbul, Habertürk reported. Dursun's and Gedikli's deaths raised the confirmed toll from three to five.
The flooding that struck Istanbul and Kocaeli began Oct. 15, 2026, when record rainfall left three dead and up to six people missing, a toll that has since risen. Habertürk said Istanbul's downpour totaled 273 kilograms of rain per square meter, the heaviest in the city in 84 years.
Three people remained missing in Istanbul as of Oct. 16, 2026, Habertürk reported. Nationwide, Turkey's interior minister, Mustafa Çiftçi, said two people remained missing in Istanbul, down from five after one of them turned up safe; he had been unreachable because his phone had died, Çiftçi said in remarks carried by Habertürk.
