Illustrative: Flooding closes Route 40, a key highway to Eilat, April 13, 2017. (Screen capture: Channel 10)
Some 500 campers were evacuated on Thursday evening from a campsite in southern Israel after heavy rains flooded the area.
Hundreds of people enjoying the Passover vacation in the Timna Park campsite, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Eilat, were forced to leave after the weather caused the nearby Nahal Nehushtan to overflow.
Earlier in the day, flooding temporarily closed Highways 40 and 90, the main roads leading to the Red Sea resort of Eilat after some 23 millimeters of rain fell in the south of the country.
Heavy showers and hail also fell across the rest of the country, especially on the southern Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee. Police warned drivers to take extra caution due to the weather.
A truck stuck due to flooding near Eilat, April 13, 2017. (Police spokesperson)
The rains hampered efforts by police and rescue services in their search for three people who went missing in the Sea of Galilee after they were swept by winds away from the coast and into deeper waters.
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The three young men lost on the lake in separate incidents on Wednesday had all entered the water on blow-up rafts, but ran into trouble as they were swept away from shore when winds picked up.
Their disappearance came as more than 80 people were rescued from the Kinneret, after foundering in the water during the day as heavy winds surprised holiday bathers.
Police search for three youths who went missing on the Sea of Galilee on April 13, 2017. (Police spokesperson)
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