JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In unusually stormy weather for April in Israel, a large number of people were caught in flash floods Monday and swept away in their cars in the Arava region of Israel.
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The weather, which had been calm until late in the day, changed dramatically and suddenly with thunderstorms over the entire country and torrential rains causing flooding in low lying areas. Cars returning from Eilat were caught in the floods at various streams in the Arava and swept away, as their occupants tried desperately to stay above the water and survive. Parts of Road 40 collapsed and large craters were formed by the flood waters.
IDF and police rescue units rescued tens of people who had been trapped in the floods. Rescue workers searched the entire night for three missing people who had been swept away from their car. One of them, a 21-year-old woman, was found in light condition after having been swept 8 km away in the floodwaters. She had succeeded in hanging on to a rock and reaching a dry place where she stayed all night until a helicopter located her.
Two other people, a brother and sister from Tiveria, were missing. 200 soldiers and Bedouin trackers are searching the region in an attempt to find the missing people and locate anyone else who might have been swept away. The IDF dog unit and other fire and rescue units are also involved in the searches. Ten helicopters are scanning the region as well as military drones.
Unfortunately the two were found dead late Friday afternoon. They were identified as Maayan and Sahar Asor z’l.
“We have 12 hours until more rain is expected and we don’t yet know how strong it will be”, said one of the searchers. “We are treating this as a national disaster and the entire system is working in coordination. We are preparing for a number of days of rain and flooding.”
The woman rescued related that she had been with a number of friends in the car, which suddenly started filling with water. The friends abandoned the car and were swept away. She managed to keep her head out of the water for a long time until she hit some rocks. She was later located by the rescuers.
Police have closed a number of roads in the area and are requesting that people should not use roads near the flood zones.
Warnings were broadcasted a couple of days before to avoid that area. It’s tragic , but why do some people take chances ?
Brains ain’t given out equally
After a tragedy in Nachal Tze’elem a few years ago, police were posted at entrances to Wadis after flood warnings were issued. In this instance, they should have blocked roads in the Arava, where Wadis cross the roads, with no bridges. Perhaps they were manning the protests?