Istanbul officials demolished buildings along a stream channel in the city’s Ayazaga neighborhood after record rainfall on Oct. 14 caused flooding that killed seven people and seriously damaged about 2,900 homes and businesses, Turkish officials said.

The Istanbul Governor’s Office said in an Oct. 20 statement that the death toll had risen to seven after the body of a missing man was found off the Altinboynuz Social Facilities in the Eyupsultan district, Memurlar.net reported. 

Rainfall reached 272.2 kilograms per square meter, or nearly 11 inches, Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said, according to a  Demiroren News Agency report carried by Habererk. Istanbul Gov. Davut Gul said in a social media post that it was the most rain measured in Istanbul since 1942, Karar reported.

Sections of road collapsed in the Eyupsultan and Gaziosmanpasa districts, and the retaining wall of Nurettin Uzun Primary School in Sultangazi collapsed, Turkiye Today reported. 

Authorities reviewed about 19,300 reports and found serious damage at about 2,000 homes and 900 businesses, a report by 24 Saat Gazetesi said. Agricultural losses, including livestock and greenhouses, totaled about 60 million lira ($1.2 million), Gul said.

Gul said 5,200 people had received 10,000 lira ($200) each in emergency aid, with about 2,500 more to be paid, CNBC-e reported. The payments come from the Ministry of Family and Social Services, Gul said. Gul also said the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen would provide 80 million lira ($1.6 million), for affected tradespeople, according to a Demiroren News Agency report carried by Yuksekova Haber.

In Ayazaga, the demolitions will clear the way for the Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration, known as ISKI, to rehabilitate about 1,700 meters of stream, TGRT Haber reported. “But in Istanbul there are streams that need kilometers of rehabilitation, hundreds of kilometers,” Gul said.

ISKI started the stream rehabilitation work and the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change opened an urban transformation office in Ayazaga, where residents can rebuild through TOKI, the state housing agency, or a cost-sharing program, Karar reported.

Parts of Istanbul carry stormwater and wastewater through shared drainage networks that can be overwhelmed in heavy rain, the Istanbul branch of Turkey’s Chamber of Environmental Engineers said in a Turkiye Today report.