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A well-prepared İstanbul for once does not surrender to snow
Last week was anticipated to be the coldest of all winter for İstanbul, and it lived up to the promise. Starting late the previous week, snowfall was heavy in almost all parts of the city, blanketing the ground and rooftops in white. The heaviest snowfall was seen on Saturday, when an icy north wind also affected the city and maintained its grip until mid-last week. However, İstanbulites were surprised but pleased to see that the megacity did not turn into a nightmare this time. “On Saturday, I had to meet a friend at İstanbul Forum Shopping Mall in Bayrampaşa. There was a strong snowstorm, but I managed to arrive there from Mecidiyeköy without any trouble, although I told my friend I might even be an hour late,” said İstanbul resident Tuğba Eren.
Another İstanbulite, Zeynep Kalan, told Sunday’s Zaman that the Metrobus was a great relief for İstanbul traffic this year. “As a person who frequently takes the Metrobus, I can say that municipal workers worked harder this year. I saw more workers spreading salt on stairs at the Metrobus stops. It was also an important factor for İstanbul in dealing with the heavy snow that people were warned beforehand and that many stayed at home,” she adds.
While the fact that schools were off last week as 15 million elementary, middle and high school students throughout Turkey started a two-week winter break on Jan. 22 was an important factor for İstanbul’s avoidance of a snowy disaster, the efforts of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality in confronting the adverse weather conditions was also noteworthy.
Cengiz Öztürk, the municipality’s press coordinator, says teams from the city’s Disaster Coordination Center (AKOM) were well prepared for the snowfall and intervened in possible problematic areas with alacrity. “We made contingency plans for a possible heavy snowfall two months ago, and what we did was implement our plans. There was only routine congestion over the [Boğaziçi and Fatih Sultan Mehmet] bridges. No major roads were reported closed due to snow last week. This is a result of our team’s coordination,” he told Sunday’s Zaman.
Öztürk said municipal snowplows worked overnight in many critical areas to clear the roads. He also added that the center had more vehicles and employees this year than in previous years. Teams from AKOM spread 4,822 tons of salt and 255 tons of chemical solutions to cope with icing and frost on the night of Jan. 25, and 3,619 employees and 884 vehicles worked to salt the roads in İstanbul.
Early warning system prevented a disaster
As Öztürk also stressed, what prevented a snow-caused disaster was a new system for the early warning of icy conditions that the municipality began to use this winter. In accordance with the system, called the Erken Uyarı Sistemi (EUS), or Early Warning System, the municipality placed “Automatic Road Meteorology Observation Sensors” at 25 critical points in İstanbul to sense icing so road teams could defrost main arteries in time. AKOM managed and sent its teams in accordance with data provided by these sensors, which measure road surface conditions and temperatures electronically and send to AKOM through a GPRS system. The data is transferred to all regional heads of AKOM teams working in the field, and the teams immediately take action based on the data.
In a statement released by the municipality last week, officials said thanks to these sensors, the municipality was able to save salt and time. “With the help of the sensors, when and where icing will start is determined beforehand, the chemicals are spread on roads in sufficient amounts ahead of time, and this early action prevents the loss of life and property.”
Among the locations with the sensors are Haliç Bridge in Eyüp, the Sağmalcılar viaduct in Bayrampaşa, the Atatürk Airport intersection in Bakırköy, Barbaros Boulevard in Beşiktaş, the Levent-Zincirlikuyu intersection in Şişli, Alemdağ in Ümraniye, the TEM Highway in Silivri, the Kavacık-Beykoz road in Beykoz, the Rıdvan Dedeoğlu viaduct in Kadıköy and the Libadiye intersection in Üsküdar.
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