Turkey floods highlight need for climate change adaptation

Recent flooding in parts of Turkey has underscored the need to focus on ecologically-sound flood management practices to shield urban areas from extreme weather events, particularly those caused by climate change.

Turkey’s Thracian region and the capital Istanbul this week received a month’s worth of rainfall during two days -- or four times the total amount of average precipitation for this entire month -- causing massive flooding that led to the death of 30 people and widespread damage estimated at US $90 million dollars. Turkey's Meteorology Institute recorded 13.2 centimetres of rain fell in the area.

This week’s floods follow flash floods in July that killed at least six people in the north-eastern province of Artvin, and inundated more than 100 homes and businesses in the Black Sea province of Giresun.

Flooding occurred mostly because natural irrigation channels had been damaged and unplanned developments blocked the rain water from dissipating into the sea, WWF said.

WWF warns that weather-related problems such as floods could worsen because of climate change unless ecological flood prevention techniques are adopted. These consist of river delta conservation and forest conservation. In addition, urban settlements along river beds must be closely monitored.