Man dies of hypothermia after car got stuck in flooded tunnel
46mm of rain measured in Haifa, with flooding leading to some street closures. Traffic lights in some areas of the city also stop working; lanes of Coastal Highway closed near Poleg Interchange due to flooding.
A 74-year-old man died of hypothermia after his car got stuck in a flooded tunnel in Haifa on Tuesday morning, while Israel was pounded by rain throughout the night and morning.
After the man failed to get to work on Tuesday morning, his wife reported him missing. He was eventually found unconscious in his car wearing wet clothes and suffering from a low body temperature.
He was not breathing and had no pulse and was rushed in critical condition to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, where he was declared dead.
An initial investigation of the incident by the police found that the man's car had already sunk by the time firefighting crews arrived at the scene to extract a woman who was stranded on the roof of her car on the other side of the tunnel.
The man was the first to drive into the tunnel, followed by a truck and then the vehicle of the woman who was rescued. It is unclear at the moment whether the firefighting forces searched for other trapped persons and why the man was not spotted earlier, police said.
The Fire & Rescue Authority's Haifa District said firefights did search the truck, whose driver had already fled, and another vehicle.
"The vehicle was filled with murky water and the firefighters did not find anything inside. It's unclear whether this was the car the deceased was in," the Fire & Rescue Authority said in a statement. "We will conduct a full investigation in the coming hours to understand what happened."
So far, the city of Haifa has experienced the most rain, with 46mm measured since the night. The heavy rain led to flooding in many areas in and around the city, leading to some streets being partially closed.
In some areas of the city, traffic lights stopped working and municipality teams were working to fix them.
Kiryat Bialik, which is in the Haifa district, also experienced flooding.
The Golan Heights saw 25mm of rain, while Kibbutz Ginosar next to the Sea of Galilee got 22mm of precipitation.
In the Arab local council of Arraba, two families had to be evacuated from their homes because of flooding.
In the Sharon plains, Netanya had its fair share of rain with 16mm, while Tel Aviv only saw 5mm and Rishon Lezion got 6mm. There was no considerable rainfall south of Rishon Lezion.
Flooding on the Coastal Highway led to the closure of some of the lanes near the Poleg Interchange.
"Cold air is coming from western Russia towards the Black Sea and from there it is supposed to reach our area within 24 hours," explained Meteo Tech meteorologist Tzachi Waxman. "Even now, because of this cold air, we're seeing big amounts of rain."
Waxman said winds are expected to increase during the day Tuesday, with rain continuously falling from northern Israel to Ashkelon. The Negev area will only see rain on Wednesday.
Rain and winds will further increase overnight, leading to possible flooding in streams in the Dead Sea area and in the coastal plain. Strong flow of water is expected in streams in the Golan and Galilee areas.
Waxman said snow is expected in the early hours of Wednesday on Mount Hermon, as well as in the northern Golan Heights.
"However, the snow won't mount very high," he said. "The top of Mount Meron and other areas like Beit Jann and Safed might also see snowfall, but it won't pile up."
He said the storm is expected to subside by Wednesday morning while Thursday will only see light rain.
