Yesterday's heavy rains in the Negev brought about a drama that 50 Beit Yaakov high school girls from Jerusalem will not quickly forget.
Equipped with permits from the Education Ministry, which must give its approval for school trips in light of weather warnings and the like, five busloads of students, teachers and escorts set out for the Flour Caves in the Dead Sea area. They met up with heavy rain, however, and realized that a damp visit to the wet site was not desirable. Their hopes for an adventurous hike having been apparently dashed, they soon met up with another, more suspenseful drama.
Receiving radio word that the Ein Gedi-Jerusalem highway, a frequent flash flood site, was clear, they set out northwards - but the road soon became filled with water. "The four buses in front of us passed through the currents with no problem," one escort later said, "but when we got there, it was too strong and we decided to back up. At that moment, a giant flood of water burst out in back of us from one of the channels between the mountains. We had no place to go, and it was scary."
A panic of sorts began when the wave of water, which reached a height of two meters (6.5 feet), hit the bus. Sticks, stones and water hit it with great force, and the bus started rocking from side to side. "It seemed like the end," one passenger said. "Girls started crying, reciting Psalms, and asking forgiveness from one another." Police units arrived on the scene, but it was soon realized that only an air rescue would do the trick. Army helicopters, together with two private choppers, arrived on the scene, and in a four-hour operation, lifted the 50 girls, two at a time, to dry land nearby. The four other busloads of students, including the daughter of Shas Party leader Eli Yeshai, stood in a safe area and watched with tension and then joy as the adventure unfolded live in front of their eyes.
"When we got to the bus," one rescuer later said, "some of the girls were crying, but most of the others were trying to cheer them up." One of the rescued passengers was a teacher in her eighth month of pregnancy, who waited until all her students were out before being taken up, and two others were toddler children of another teacher who came along for the ride. "When the soldiers lifted us to the helicopter, we realized that everything was OK," one girl said, "because in the bus we had already prepared to die... Flying in the air took only a couple of seconds, but we weren't scared; we knew that G-d had saved us."
For the Israel Air Force's Air Rescue Unit, it was a new record: "We're accustomed to saving one or two passengers from a flooded car," one rescuer said, "but never before have we done something on this scale."
The rains also caused flooding in Bnei Brak, where firefighters rescued a woman and her toddler from their inundated car. Heavy storms are expected tomorrow, and precautionary measures have been taken in areas where flooding is expected. Extra supplies have been delivered to soldiers in the northern Golan and Har Dov, in case tomorrow's expected snow there prevents easy access.
Equipped with permits from the Education Ministry, which must give its approval for school trips in light of weather warnings and the like, five busloads of students, teachers and escorts set out for the Flour Caves in the Dead Sea area. They met up with heavy rain, however, and realized that a damp visit to the wet site was not desirable. Their hopes for an adventurous hike having been apparently dashed, they soon met up with another, more suspenseful drama.
Receiving radio word that the Ein Gedi-Jerusalem highway, a frequent flash flood site, was clear, they set out northwards - but the road soon became filled with water. "The four buses in front of us passed through the currents with no problem," one escort later said, "but when we got there, it was too strong and we decided to back up. At that moment, a giant flood of water burst out in back of us from one of the channels between the mountains. We had no place to go, and it was scary."
A panic of sorts began when the wave of water, which reached a height of two meters (6.5 feet), hit the bus. Sticks, stones and water hit it with great force, and the bus started rocking from side to side. "It seemed like the end," one passenger said. "Girls started crying, reciting Psalms, and asking forgiveness from one another." Police units arrived on the scene, but it was soon realized that only an air rescue would do the trick. Army helicopters, together with two private choppers, arrived on the scene, and in a four-hour operation, lifted the 50 girls, two at a time, to dry land nearby. The four other busloads of students, including the daughter of Shas Party leader Eli Yeshai, stood in a safe area and watched with tension and then joy as the adventure unfolded live in front of their eyes.
"When we got to the bus," one rescuer later said, "some of the girls were crying, but most of the others were trying to cheer them up." One of the rescued passengers was a teacher in her eighth month of pregnancy, who waited until all her students were out before being taken up, and two others were toddler children of another teacher who came along for the ride. "When the soldiers lifted us to the helicopter, we realized that everything was OK," one girl said, "because in the bus we had already prepared to die... Flying in the air took only a couple of seconds, but we weren't scared; we knew that G-d had saved us."
For the Israel Air Force's Air Rescue Unit, it was a new record: "We're accustomed to saving one or two passengers from a flooded car," one rescuer said, "but never before have we done something on this scale."
The rains also caused flooding in Bnei Brak, where firefighters rescued a woman and her toddler from their inundated car. Heavy storms are expected tomorrow, and precautionary measures have been taken in areas where flooding is expected. Extra supplies have been delivered to soldiers in the northern Golan and Har Dov, in case tomorrow's expected snow there prevents easy access.