Heavy snow closed down much of Yerushalayim on Tuesday, with
schools and chadorim shut in the city and the
surrounding area after some 20cm fell overnight and continued
into the morning. In yeshiva gedolah, almost all the
talmidim sleep in dormitories so they continued as
usual. Many yeshiva ketanohs also asked their
talmidim to sleep over so that learning can continue
as usual.
The Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway was closed in both directions
from the Beit Shemesh interchange. The Jerusalem
municipality asked residents to remain at home, and keep off
the roads to allow emergency vehicles access to hospitals.
The city council has also set up a help line and the Yad
Sara, a volunteer network of home-care for support services
for the disabled and elderly, was also available for those
needing assistance.
Heavy rains in lower areas and high-speed winds of as much as
80 kilometers per hour were expected to continue through
Wednesday, and meteorologists predicted that snow might fall
in areas as low as 500 meters above sea level. Flood warnings
were issued for many low lying areas, including the Kishon
River basin in the Haifa area where the 70-kilometer long
river basin in fact saw the kind of flooding last seen in
1992. This was true of other areas as well.
Already flooded is the Jordan River plain south of the
Kinneret. Thousands of dunams were flooded. The water rose as
high as 10 meters in some places, leaving only the tops of
date palms showing above the water. There was millions of
shekels' damage to crops and equipment caught under water,
while some fish ponds also overflowed.
In the Golan Heights and other areas of the north, people
were told to boil their drinking water due to heavy flooding.
Schools in Jerusalem closed at 2 P.M. on Monday due to the
snowfall, but many chadorim closed as soon as they
heard the municipal announcement, which was issued soon after
noon. Since many of the young cheder talmidim have a
substantial trip home, authorities took no chances.
Snow also fell in the Golan Heights and in parts of the
Western Galilee.
The Agriculture Ministry sent out assessors Monday to check
crop damage caused by the heavy rains. The damage is
estimated to run to millions of shekels.
The storms and heavy rains throughout Israel were expected to
last at least 48 hours. In the north of the country, the
Hermon ski resort was closed Monday due to heavy snow, while
at the Dead Sea, the Ein Gedi nature reserve was closed to
visitors because of flood warnings. The Ramon Crater
(Machtesh Ramon) in the Negev desert also saw some
snowfall.
Many other low lying areas were on flood alert, with local
authorities preparing water pumps and emergency crews. In the
capital, the local authority had a fleet of snow plows on
hand to deal with a snowfall predicted on hilltops higher
than 700 meters above sea level. Up to 85 millimeters of rain
was expected to fall on the coastal region.
Following heavy rains in the last few days, the water level
in Lake Kinneret has risen seven centimeters, covering the
yardstick that measures the water level for the second time
in two months. The hydrological office worked to replace this
measuring post Monday with one that would measure the
expected water level rise, up to 212 meters below sea level.
In recent years, posts have only needed replacement after
they moved or fell into the lake.
The snow began to fall on Sunday night in the north and
spread south, to hilltops as far south as Hebron and the
northern Negev.
The intifadah war continued as usual on Tuesday, as security
forces arrested seven terrorist suspects. Five suspected
members of Hamas were arrested in Tubas and two other
suspects were held in a village west of Hebron. Also a former
bodyguard of Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin was
critically wounded in a mysterious explosion in the Gaza
Strip today. Palestinians said that he was the victim of an
Israeli bomb, but an IDF spokesman thought that it was
probably a "work accident."
The body of a Palestinian man was found Monday in the rubble
of house in a Gaza town demolished the day before by IDF
troops. The subsequent withdrawal brought to an end a two-day
operation aimed at hitting Hamas.
Rescue workers pulled out the body of Abdullah Al-Saba, 52.
They said it took them two hours to dismantle the explosives
belt he was wearing. Al-Saba's son was killed Friday
attacking a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
