Extreme weather causes flooding, road closures and damage across Israel

Multiple people rescued by emergency workers after becoming trapped in vehicles on flooded roads, as new record for rainfall set

By ToI Staff 25 November 2025, 12:57 pm
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A volunteer rescues stranded travelers in Beit Shemesh, November 25, 2025 (United Hatzalah); flash floods are seen in Nahal Zin in southern Israel after heavy rain. (Shmulik Yaari/Yeruham Tourism Board)

Heavy rain and hail swept through portions of the country on Tuesday morning, leading to reports of damage, road closures and flooding.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, a portion of the West Bank security fence in the Hebron Hills collapsed due to the heavy rains and high winds.

Sections of Route 40, Route 227 and Route 206 in southern Israel were closed Tuesday morning due to flooding. In the north, roads flooded in Kiryat Motzkin and Shfaram. In the center, Route 90 outside Jericho was shut after flooding.

In Jerusalem, heavy hail fell for a number of minutes across the city, although no damage was reported.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said that it had been called to rescue citizens who were trapped in their cars due to flooding or reported flooding in their homes in Kiryat Gat, Shfaram, Modiin Illit, Beit Shemesh, Beersheba, Rahat, Kafr Qasim, and Tirat Carmel.

MDA said as of 9 a.m. that nobody who was rescued had required medical treatment.

According to reports, United Hatzalah volunteers in Beit Shemesh rescued students aboard a school transport vehicle that got stuck on a flooded road.

Footage showed a rescuer paddling in a dinghy to reach the stranded children.

The Israel Meteorological Service said Tuesday morning that a new record had been set overnight for rain in the center of the country, after 128 millimeters (5 inches) of rain was recorded within 4 hours in the West Bank settlement of Neveh Tzuf.

Overnight, the IMS said, 50 mm of rain fell in Karnei Shomron in the West Bank, 47 mm in Mevo Dotan and 39 mm in Ariel. In Haifa, about 33 mm fell overnight, in Modiin around 30 mm, and in Beersheba approximately 28 mm.

The rainy weather arrived just after a rare late-November heatwave across Israel, where temperatures exceeded 34°C (93°F).

The IMS said that this past Friday was Israel’s single hottest late November day on record. In Eilat, the resort town at the southern tip of the country, the temperature hit highs of 37.2°C (98°F).

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