Heavy rainfall, flooding hit Israel on a stormy Saturday
Tour bus with 50 Ukrainian tourists extracted from Tze'elim Stream after it got stuck; parts of highways 31 and 90 closed due to inclement weather conditions.
Heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and hail hit Israel Friday night, continuing into Saturday morning.
The Israel Police's Ein Gedi rescue unit, with the help of the Arad Police, extracted a bus with some 50 tourists from Ukraine around 5:30am after it got stuck in the Tze'elim Stream. No one was hurt.
Because of the stormy weather, highway 90 has been closed from the Dead Sea hotels area to the David's Stream area in both directions.
Meanwhile, highway 31 was blocked for traffic between Arad and the Dead Sea after rocks fell onto the road. The road has since been cleared and reopened.
Some 36 millimeters of rain fell in Tel Aviv by 10am, 15 mm of which fell within one hour, while Haifa said 18 mm.
Meanwhile, Kibbutz Eilon in the Western Galilee experienced 33 mm of rain, Ein Afek saw 25 mm, and Safed had 28 mm.
Be'er Sheva recorded 10 mm in one hour, and a total of 12 mm, while Samakh near Tiberias had 18 mm, Kibbutz Negba saw 30 mm and Ashkelon 11 mm.
The settlement of Ariel measured 25 mm, while Beit Dagan in the Shfela Region registered 23 mm.
The rainfall, possibly accompanied by hail, is expected to continue throughout the day Saturday. Temperatures are expected to drop, and snowfall is forecasted on Mount Hermon.
