After weeks of a record-breaking heatwave, which was briefly interrupted a week ago by a day and a half of rainfall, Israel was hit with a storm overnight Monday with an unprecedented amount of rainfall in a short period.
The heavy rainfall, which intensified on Tuesday morning, caused massive flooding, and numerous people had to be rescued from their vehicles and even their homes. In Elkana in the Shomron, several homes flooded, and at least 10 residents, including small children, were evacuated from their homes by firefighters.
In Binyamin, part of the security barrier collapsed, leading to the closure of a major road.
A van carrying children to school got stuck on a road in Ramat Beit Shemesh Daled and were rescued by responders in a kayak:
“Extremely large amounts of rainfall fell in the Shomron and northern Negev,” meteorologist Lior Sudri told Kol Chai. “In the Shomron, two months’ worth of rain fell in less than six hours. It’s unprecedented.”
There was also very heavy rain in the Jerusalem hills and the Shefela region, but almost no rain fell in central Israel. “In Gush Dan only very little rain fell,” Sudri said. “In Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, and Petach Tikva—maybe a millimeter. Nothing dramatic.”
He added that the rain was dramatic but brief. “The clouds will disperse by this afternoon. Starting tomorrow—warm and pleasant weather.”
He added that there’s room for optimism. ““We believe that this winter will be significantly better than last year, which was extremely dry.”
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