The Aftermath - Recriminations and Blame

Photo from Daily Sabah Newspaper. Slideshow here

Insults are flying. Everyone is blaming the town council, developers, large hotel chains but when Geography and Mother Nature get together, there is not much mere human beings can do. Bodrum is and always has been in the bottom of a natural bowl surrounded by hills. Any water falling on the highland has to flow through the town into the sea.  Bodrumites are used to flooding as we live in a natural drain, but we are not used to it happening in the summer.  The last time I can remember a summer flood was in 1988. A sunny August day turned thundery and the ensuing downpour swept through the market and carried all the vegetable bobbing down the main road into the sea; the same main road that saw cars being tumbled about on Tuesday night. In those days we didn't have drainage channels, just dere sokağı,  streets that are really river beds.  Ill-advisedly, these River Roads - despite keeping their name - have been more and more treated as areas suitable for commerce and accommodation. If you live or work on a "River Road"  it should come as no surprise to you that during heavy rainfall your street will start to fill with water and as the rain gets heavier,  leaving a car parked in a dere sokağı is madness.  The above picture is the Oasis Shopping Mall. Built in the lee of hills but apparently with insufficient drainage for through water.  I hope the architects are bowing their heads.  The above mentioned authorities all have to bear their responsibilities as infrastructural planning is minimal, haphazard or non-existent but that is the way in this country; first get the building up and then worry about services, sewage and drainage.  Lots of those complaining and blaming, enjoy living or visiting Bodrum, but if the strict restrictions they are asking for had been enforced, their own hillside houses would never have been allowed to be built.  Rather than looking to blame, sometimes we just have to accept that when nature opens the tap or pulls the rug from under us, be it flood or earthquake, there is nothing we can do except clear up and start again. If we learn from the experience then all to the good, but don't hold your breath.

Other flood related posts Bodrum Rain stopped play

Rain stopped play.

My front garden on Monday.

On my first trip back to the UK after my first winter in Bodrum c.1983,  I bought a pair of knee-high rubber riding boots. I was extremely proud of them and especially loved the leather lining.  Did I have a horse?  No.  Did I ride?  No.  Were they the most useful foot-ware I ever bought? Yes.  I still have them and wish my legs were svelte enough to get into them.  They were the only boots that were high enough to ford the rivers that Bodrum roads turn into after a heavy rainfall.  I was under the impression that we now had super drainage around the Bodrum peninsula and that the days of the flash flood were over, but mother nature knows better.  On Monday between 77 and 85 kgs of rain fell in a hour (that's over 3 inches in UK terms) and the drainage systems gave up the ghost.  There are pictures of what looks like a tidal wave running down Bodrum's main street.  

Photo credit to Bodrum'un Bilinmeyenleri Facebook page. 

On Monday morning, I drove into town from the village with plans to visit the bank, help my daughter move house, enrol at the gym and walk to this week's writing circle.  I arrived early so I could fit in a walk around Bodrum with Jake.  We got to our car park just as the first rain drops started and then were stranded indoors for the next 3 hours as the water level rose steadily around our town house. The electricity went off, followed by my mobile phone network and smells started emanating from the dog suggesting that a trip outside should be sooner rather than later.   I had to don my much too short wellies and the dog had to practice the paddle that forever has been named after his species as we braved the weather for a toilet break.

My front path turns into a very attractive pond.

I did eventually get to the b-fit gym at about 6pm and signed up for the next 4 months. I should concentrate on the lower leg region to hopefully be able to squeeze back into my riding boots ready for the next downpour.