The boy was electrocuted after stepping into a puddle in the Balat area of the Fatih district, according to surveillance footage verified by Al Jazeera. The footage showed him walking through puddles at the entrance of a car park before suddenly collapsing. The Istanbul governor's office said he was taken to hospital unconscious and died despite rescue attempts, and that an investigation into the incident had been opened.
Istanbul Governor Davut Gul urged residents to stay at home on Thursday unless travel was necessary, called on people living in basement flats to spend the night on higher floors, and advised avoiding creek beds, underpasses and other flood-prone areas. Classes were suspended across the city for Thursday and motorcycles were banned from the roads from 9pm on Wednesday until further notice. State employees with disabilities and mothers with young children were placed on leave.
The rain began on Tuesday evening after warnings from Turkiye's weather service. Emergency services received more than 2,500 reports of weather-related incidents, with authorities recording 1,277 floods and 15 landslides. More than 800 homes, 280 businesses and 76 vehicles were affected, and sections of road collapsed in the Eyupsultan and Gaziosmanpasa districts. Floodwater reached two hospitals and poured through the ceiling of the Haciosman metro station. In Sultangazi, a primary school's retaining wall collapsed while students were inside their classrooms, though no injuries were reported.
The heaviest rain, nearly 194mm (7.6 inches), fell in the Omerli area of Beykoz on the city's Asian side. About 8,000 personnel, along with 2,000 vehicles and construction machines, were deployed across the city, home to about 16 million people, according to Turkish outlet Daily Sabah. Turkiye's Interior Ministry warned of sudden flooding in several provinces on Wednesday and Thursday.