Ten people were rescued in Rishon Lezion overnight Thursday after they were trapped in their cars by flooding caused by unseasonably powerful thunderstorms that lashed the center and north of the country.
Six firefighter crews were dispatched to Rishon’s flooded streets early Friday, locating the trapped individuals in several different sites throughout the city.
The thunderstorms are expected to continue throughout the day and into the weekend, raising fears of dangerous flash floods in the riverbeds of the Jordan Valley and southern Negev desert.
The precipitation will take the form of snow on the Hermon mountain, Israel’s highest perched at the northern tip of the Golan Heights.
Friday is also slated to be unusually cold, forecasters said.
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Overnight flooding struck parts of Tel Aviv, but no damage or injuries were reported.
The storms on Thursday and into Friday morning were accompanied by an unusually high number of lightning strikes, the Israel Electric Company said Friday — some 2,500 throughout Thursday, or roughly 30 percent more than the expected average, the Walla news site reported.
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