In Çatalköy, the Damage Was Already There. The Rain Just Triggered It.

The garden looked perfect.

Terraced soil, stone walls, green grass that never seemed to fade. From a distance, it felt solid. Maintained. Safe. The kind of place where nothing unexpected happens.

That assumption was the problem.

This house sits on the hillside of Çatalköy. When the rain started, no one worried. Rain in North Cyprus usually passes quickly. The ground absorbs it. Life goes on.

This time, the rain stopped.
The water did not.

Behind the retaining wall, underground, water had nowhere to go. There was no drainage system. No outlet pipe. No pressure release. Everything looked fine on the surface. The risk was buried.

Water always chooses the easiest path.
Here, that path was inward.

Day one brought dampness.
Day two, paint began to bubble.
Day three, the flooring lifted slightly.
Day four, the issue could no longer be called minor.

When the insurance process began, the key question surfaced immediately:
Was the damage sudden, or was it gradual?

The rainfall was sudden.
The drainage problem was not.

This distinction matters. In hillside areas like Çatalköy, many homes are built beautifully above ground while ignoring what happens below it. Policies ask about square meters, construction year, and views. They rarely ask where rainwater escapes.

In this case, the cost was not only physical damage. It was time. Drying periods. Measurements. Second inspections. Delays. The house was technically usable, but not comfortably livable.

One simple question could have changed everything:
“Where does the water go when it rains?”

Çatalköy has many beautiful gardens.
Not all of them are safe.

This is not a warning.
It is a record.

The rain will fall again.
The ground will choose the same path.