Police evacuated hundreds of shoppers from the Azrielli shopping center in Modi'in Tuesday after rain water flooded the building. The water reached a depth of 50 cm. – about 20 inches – in some places within the mall. Sales representatives and other employees, used to floods of shoppers but not of water, perched atop their sales counters and made frantic calls to their employers.
Electrical power was immediately disconnected, and police shut down the shopping center.
Continued rainfall is expected overnight in northern and central Israel. The rain will probably continue into Friday.
Modi'in has over 75,000 residents and is located in central Israel, west and north of Jerusalem. It is a relatively new city, having received this status ten years ago, and is home to a large community of olim from English speaking countries.