ISTANBUL: At least 14 people were killed as heavy overnight rains flooded parts of Turkey's biggest city Istanbul on Wednesday, stranding motorists and flooding arterial roads, media reports said. After the worst rains to hit the city in 80 years Anatolia news agency said 14 people had died while NTV news channel said 15 bodies were recovered. The CNN-Turk news channel put the toll at 16 dead. There was no official confirmation of the reports. There were scenes of chaos in the districts of Basaksehir, Ikitelli and Halkali on the European quarter of the city straddling the Bosphorus Strait as the flood waters inundated a road connecting the city to the international airport. The water level rose to two metres (six feet) in some sections of the highway. Several car passengers clambered atop their stalled vehicles waiting to be rescued, while some climbed up trees, television images showed. Anatolia reported that seven bodies were found at a truck park in Basaksehir, including a truck driver, a security guard for the park and a shepherd grazing animals nearby. Rescuers were still combing the area for other victims, said an AFP photographer at the scene, who saw two bodies being taken out of the waters. In the neighbouring district of Halkali, seven women -- workers of a local textile factory -- drowned when they were swept away by the flood as they tried to get out of their stranded vehicle, Anatolia said. There other women were evacuated by rescue workers, it added. Hours later Istanbul governor Muammer Guler announced that all the people standed in their vehicles and trees had been rescued. Describing the rain as the worst in 80 years, he told the NTV news channel that six military helicopters were participating in the rescue efforts. The Istanbul mayor's office said in a statement that around 900 fire fighters and rescuers were deployed in the flood area, backed up by 220 vehicles and 30 inflatable dinghies. The statement added that more than 1,000 people had been rescued since Tuesday when the rains first battered the western outermost suburbs of Istanbul before moving over the city. Nine people were killed Tuesday and two others went missing when heavy rains battered the northwest of the country, including two suburbs of Istanbul. Meteorology services say they are expecting a new front of rain to move in over the country on Friday. Istanbul and its more than 12 million inhabitants are especially vulnerable to flooding due to poor and dilapidated infrastructure.