Thousands of passengers were stranded on a highway connecting the Turkey’s southern provinces; Tarsus, Adana and Gaziantep on Jan 18.
Gaziantep Governor Davut Gül said that the stranded people were motorists and passengers on Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep highway, which was closed to traffic.
Gül told that officials distributed food to some 7,000 people on the highway where the vehicles could not move to low visibility and thick snow.
The governor said some 2800 of the passengers were rescued and estimated that the road would be opened to traffic within the next hours.
Meanwhile, the Turkish State Meteorological Service has declared yellow and orange alerts in 26 out of all 81 provinces, warning residents to take measures against the harsh winter conditions on Jan. 18.
“The country will witness precipitation in all provinces except the Thrace region,” it said in a statement.
According to the statement, the western part of the country will struggle with winds of speed up to 70 kilometers per hour and the east will witness snowfall.
A yellow warning is issued to indicate the potential impact of the upcoming weather event, while an orange warning is issued in case of the possibility of “extremely bad weather.”
Hurriyet Daily News