ISTANBUL/ATHNES (Reuters) – Flights partially resumed at Istanbul airport on Tuesday after a nearly 24-hour hiatus due to heavy snowfall which caused transport disruptions, also in Greece.
Istanbul, a city of 16 million inhabitants, has been under snow since last week. Most of the aircraft were grounded at the international airport, one of the largest in the world.
A spokesman said a limited number of flights resumed around 10:00 GMT (1:00 p.m. local time) after a 10:00 p.m. suspension, and flights scheduled for Tuesday would be operational by midnight.
Turkish Airlines said its flights were suspended until 9:00 p.m. GMT.
Bus and ferry traffic was also disrupted and motorists were banned from driving on Tuesday morning. Exceptional leave was granted to state agents until Wednesday due to the limited supply of transport.
A video circulating on the internet shows a man skiing in the streets of Istanbul.
Unheard of for 29 years, the beaches of the seaside town of Antalya, in the south of the country, disappeared under the snow.
Some 4,600 people were stranded on roads across the country, and several thousand had to be temporarily housed in makeshift centres, the Authority for Emergencies and Natural Disasters said.
The situation is also delicate in Greece, affected by heavy snowfall on Monday.
In Athens, where the Attiki Odos highway was impassable, more than 3,500 people were evacuated but some 1,200 vehicles remained blocked on this artery of the capital, said government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou.
During the night, soldiers distributed food, water and blankets to motorists, some of whom remained stuck for more than ten hours.
Power cuts were reported in Athens.
The authorities declared Tuesday and Wednesday public holidays – schools, administrations, businesses were closed, with the exception of gas stations, pharmacies and supermarkets.
The storm, dubbed “Elpida”, is expected to continue until Wednesday.
(Report by Ezgi Erkoyun, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Karolina Tagaris; French version Valentine Baldassari and Sophie Louet, told by)
by Bulent Usta Karolina Tagaris