Rescue services search for 3 missing in suspected flash flood north of Eilat
Trio loses contact with authorities while traveling in vehicle near Nahal Tzihor in Negev; 60 people rescued from flooding in southern Israel
Police and rescue services were searching for three people they fear are missing following a suspected flash flood in southern Israel Monday night.
The trio was traveling in a vehicle near Nahal Tzihor in southern Israel, between Mitzpe Ramon and Eilat, and managed to contact authorities to report they were caught up in a flash flood. Contact with the three was lost Monday evening, police said. Nahal Tzihor is a 35-kilometer (21-mile) stream that runs from Nahal Paran.
Rescue services suspect the vehicle was swept into another nearby stream.
Authorities have closed to traffic all northward roads from the southernmost city of Eilat for fears of flash floods. Police had earlier warned of potential flash floods in the Judean Desert, and closed segments of two highways running through southern Israel.
Earlier Monday, three women caught up in a flood in their vehicle near Eilat were rescued and transported to Yoseftal Hospital in the city for frostbite treatment, police said.
The Israeli military said Israeli Air Force helicopters and forces from the IDF’s Unit 669, a combat rescue and evacuation force, rescued 26 civilians Monday night across southern Israel, in cooperation with the Israel Police, Magen David Adom medics, the Israel Fire and Rescue Services, and regional rescue units.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, police said 60 people have been rescued from flooding in the area as of around 4 am. Tuesday, amid over 100 calls to authorities over the night for help.
Authorities urged “citizens to show responsibility and not go near the flood areas.”
Earlier Monday, Israel was hit by stormy weather and heavy winds just as many Israelis flocked to nature sites to enjoy the outdoors over the weeklong Passover holiday.
A teenage girl was moderately hurt after a tree toppled on her at the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel amid heavy winds. The 18-year-old suffered a head injury due to the collapsed tree, near Kibbutz Ein Gev.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said paramedics took the injured teen by helicopter to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa for treatment.
The strong winds at the Sea of Galilee also led many beachgoers to snap up their belongings and call it quits, ahead of rain and thunderstorms forecast over the day and on Tuesday.
In a separate incident at Kibbutz Beit Kama, north of Beersheba, a large tree toppled at a preschool, crushing equipment in the yard.
No children were hurt, as teachers took the kids inside when heavy winds picked up.
Video from the scene showed the tree crushed an outside covered area at the preschool.
נס גדול היה פה: עץ ענק קרס על גן ילדים בבית קמה, אף אחד לא נפגע
צילום: לפי חוק 27א' https://t.co/X4miwXZjlX pic.twitter.com/6XrKTVmo1B— רדיו דרום – Radio Darom (@radiodarom97) April 10, 2023
“How frightening,” a kibbutz resident told Channel 12. “What luck that a minute or two before, they brought [the children] in.”
Temperatures in central and southern Israel are set to drop Monday night with light rain and cloudy conditions over the course of Tuesday.
The stormy weather will continue into Wednesday with some thunderstorms and potential flash floods expected in coastal cities. Some snow is expected in the Hermon Mountain area in the north on Wednesday.
