Turkey's Meteorological General Directorate issued a nationwide warning on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, forecasting heavy showers and thunderstorms across most of the country over the next 24 hours, according to Hürriyet. Muğla and Antalya were placed under an orange-coded alert for very heavy rainfall, while 18 other provinces received yellow-coded warnings.
The warning came as downpours struck Muğla province. In Bodrum, streets and avenues flooded from the early morning, several vehicles became stranded and traffic at times came to a halt, Hürriyet reported.
Why it matters
The orange alert is the agency's second-highest level and signals that conditions could disrupt daily life, damage property and endanger people in low-lying areas. The agency listed the specific hazards it expects: sudden flash floods, standing water, landslides, interruptions to transport, lightning strikes, localized hail, strong gusts during downpours and the possibility of waterspouts or tornadoes along the coast.
The warning covers a wide band of the country. According to the agency's assessment, almost all of Turkey will see partly to heavily cloudy skies with showers and thunderstorms, with the exception of Edirne and Kırklareli in the northwest, and Sinop and Artvin on the Black Sea coast. Kars and Ardahan in the east are also excluded from the rain forecast.
Where the heaviest rain is expected
The agency expects the strongest downpours in the western Aegean, western Anatolia, the western Mediterranean and the southeast. Along the southern Aegean coast and the western Mediterranean shoreline, rainfall could reach very heavy to severe levels in places, it said.
For the southeast, the forecast is more specific. From Wednesday until Thursday morning, 29 October, heavy rain of 21 to 50 kilograms per square meter is expected around Elazığ, Tunceli, Bingöl, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Mardin and Batman, as well as eastern Kahramanmaraş and southern Malatya. Across Adıyaman province and in northern Şanlıurfa and northwestern Diyarbakır, the agency expects locally very heavy rainfall of 51 to 75 kilograms per square meter over a 12-hour period.
Winds are also part of the picture. The agency forecasts strong northerly winds of 40 to 60 kilometers per hour along the Marmara and northern Aegean coasts, and light to occasionally moderate winds elsewhere, blowing from the north in the northwest and from the south in other regions.
Temperatures are expected to stay close to seasonal norms in the west and run 2 to 4 degrees Celsius above normal in central and eastern areas, according to the same assessment.
Flooding in Bodrum and Dalaman
In Bodrum, the downpour began in the morning and continued at intervals. The Konacık neighborhood was among the worst affected, with deep water collecting along the route toward Bodrum and Turgutreis. Drivers struggled to get through, and three vehicles were left stuck, Hürriyet reported. Traffic police managed the flow of vehicles while municipal crews pumped water off the roads, and tow trucks removed the stranded cars. Reporters pushed one trapped car to safety, an episode captured on a mobile phone camera.
Bodrum Mayor Tamer Mandalinci followed the drainage work in Konacık in person. He said the area had suffered similar problems in previous years and that the road needed to be dug up on both sides to fix the issue, adding that he had spoken with highways and Muğla metropolitan municipality teams.
Elsewhere in the province, the Tersakan stream in Dalaman overflowed and caused flooding, and the Akkaya shoreline was damaged by rainwater runoff, according to Hürriyet. The paper reported that four people had previously lost their lives in connection with the severe weather, and that a new alert had been issued warning that rainfall could reach up to 100 kilograms per square meter in some places.
Istanbul braces for a wet week
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's disaster coordination center, AKOM, warned residents that cold air moving in from the Balkans combined with rain-bearing systems from the central Mediterranean had put the city and most of the country under their influence. In its statement, AKOM said the system is expected to affect the region for the next seven days, with temperatures running below seasonal norms at 13 to 16 degrees Celsius and intermittent showers, at times heavy.
The Meteorological General Directorate's warning map placed Muğla and Antalya at orange level. Yellow warnings covered Adıyaman, Aydın, Antalya, Balıkesir, Bingöl, Burdur, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Isparta, Mersin, İzmir, Malatya, Kahramanmaraş, Mardin, Tunceli, Şanlıurfa and Batman.
The agency urged people in the affected areas to take precautions against flash flooding, standing water, lightning, strong winds and transport disruption. The Muğla regional meteorology directorate also issued a shower warning for the province and its surroundings.
Authorities have not reported any new casualties from Wednesday's rainfall. Residents in the orange and yellow alert zones should watch for further updates from the Meteorological General Directorate and local authorities as the system moves east through Thursday morning.
