Teenager dies, one goes missing in flash flood
A 17-year-old boy died Wednesday after being swept for several kilometers in the Mamshit River in the Negev during a severe, unseasonable storm that struck Israel, bringing rain and hail to much of the country. He was located on a river bank. The boy was pronounced dead on the scene. Shortly after, attempts to rescue a young Palestinian woman by police, Etzion Rescue Unit volunteers and IDF forces failed after she was swept away by a flood near Gush Etzion.
“In Magen David Adom, a call was received about a 17-year-old boy who was swept away by the waters of Nahal Mamshit... to the entrance to Akrabim, [where we] found him unconscious on the
riverbank,” MDA medic Yonatan Ifergan said.
Streets in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were flooded, as were areas of the desert and other cities across the country.
In the wake of the rains, an acoustic ceiling collapsed in a commercial center in Rishon Lezion. No casualties were reported in the incident. In another incident, according to
The Jerusalem Post’s sister publication Maariv, rescue teams saved a number of children who were trapped in a flooded shelter at the Yadlin School on Hayarkon Street in the city as a result of the weather.
MDA reported that 43 teachers and students suffering from hypothermia were treated by paramedics, according to Maariv.
Wednesday’s weather is not typical in Israel during the end of April. Strong rains were accompanied by thunder, lightning and hail, along with a marked drop in temperatures. •