Ninth-graders from one of Israel’s top yeshiva high schools narrowly escaped a devastating flash flood Friday while learning an unexpected lesson Friday on the powers of nature.
The class of 34 from the Susia High School, which emphasizes knowledge of Israel and the Bible, were on a geology field trip to study rocks in a dry riverbed south of Matzada near the Dead Sea.
“Our guide, who has a lot of experience, saw that it was starting to rain and ordered us to get out of the riverbed and on to high ground,” one of the students told Arutz Sheva. “A few minutes later, a flash flood began,” said the student, Aviad Eschar. A 12th grader, Elazar Ben Gedalyahu, said his group had left the riverbed half an hour before.
Flash floods are a powerful and dangerous phenomena that have killed many hikers and rivers over the years, particularly in the Dead Sea area where rain is rare. Many people, especially tourists, do not realize that floods can suddenly roar down a mountainside.
“Our school does not go on any field trip without permission from the Education Ministry,” emphasized Chaim Bar Chai, the yeshiva administrator. “The guide, Dror, used to be a member of a rescue team near Eilat and was head of a field school. As soon as he noticed it was raining, he feared there would be floods. As the class was getting out of the riverbed, he received a phone call from the Ministry’s control room telling him that flash floods were expected,” Bar Chai explained.
The school never hikes in the area when rains are forecast, but the weather forecast was for rain to the south, he added. “When they saw the rain was starting to fall to the north, they immediately called Dror.”
The dry riverbed, called Nahal Rachaf, quickly became the scene of torrential floods. The students had the rare experience of being to view the flood and then went to the top of the mountain to an Army base. They were stranded for about two hours in heavy rains between two flooded riverbeds until the torrent withdrew. Eschar said that when the class reached the road, they helped drivers whose cars were stuck in the flooded roads.
“It just shows how small we are against nature,” said Bar Chai.
The Susia Yeshiva High School last year won the coveted prize for religious education from the Education Ministry.
Later in the day, another group was caught in a flash flood in an area where there were orders not to hike. In another incident near Ein Gedi, a driver who did not heed police orders had to climb on the roof of her car to escape drowning
Helicopters ferried workers from the Dead Sea Works after land access was flooded. Israel Army personnel also rescued an Arab whose car was washed away by the flash floods. Another Arab was killed and two others were missing.
The country's first heavy rains of the seasons dropped hail the size of ping-pong balls fell in the Jerusalem areas, causing widespread damage.
Winter pounded most of Israel with thunderstorms and hail Friday, giving the country its first heavy rain since last spring.
The heaviest precipitation fell near Be'er Sheva, and some roads in the south were closed due to flooding. Heavy hail fell in the capital this morning, including "tennis-ball sized stones," according to eyewitnesses who said that many cars were substantially damaged. More rain is forecast throughout the day, tapering off on Saturday.
Flooding is expected in the Jordan Valley and Judean Desert areas, traditionally dangerous areas for hikers and drivers not familiar with flash floods that often roar down mountainsides into areas where there is little or no precipitation.
The level of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel's largest reservoir, now stands at 210.67 meters below sea level, almost two meters below the optimal level. It dropped approximately a centimeter a day over the past two months. Each meter represents 170 million cubic meters of water.
In a normal winter, the lake rises almost two meters. Last year was the first time in 10 years the Kinneret was filled to optimum levels.
The class of 34 from the Susia High School, which emphasizes knowledge of Israel and the Bible, were on a geology field trip to study rocks in a dry riverbed south of Matzada near the Dead Sea.
“Our guide, who has a lot of experience, saw that it was starting to rain and ordered us to get out of the riverbed and on to high ground,” one of the students told Arutz Sheva. “A few minutes later, a flash flood began,” said the student, Aviad Eschar. A 12th grader, Elazar Ben Gedalyahu, said his group had left the riverbed half an hour before.
Flash floods are a powerful and dangerous phenomena that have killed many hikers and rivers over the years, particularly in the Dead Sea area where rain is rare. Many people, especially tourists, do not realize that floods can suddenly roar down a mountainside.
“Our school does not go on any field trip without permission from the Education Ministry,” emphasized Chaim Bar Chai, the yeshiva administrator. “The guide, Dror, used to be a member of a rescue team near Eilat and was head of a field school. As soon as he noticed it was raining, he feared there would be floods. As the class was getting out of the riverbed, he received a phone call from the Ministry’s control room telling him that flash floods were expected,” Bar Chai explained.
The school never hikes in the area when rains are forecast, but the weather forecast was for rain to the south, he added. “When they saw the rain was starting to fall to the north, they immediately called Dror.”
The dry riverbed, called Nahal Rachaf, quickly became the scene of torrential floods. The students had the rare experience of being to view the flood and then went to the top of the mountain to an Army base. They were stranded for about two hours in heavy rains between two flooded riverbeds until the torrent withdrew. Eschar said that when the class reached the road, they helped drivers whose cars were stuck in the flooded roads.
“It just shows how small we are against nature,” said Bar Chai.
The Susia Yeshiva High School last year won the coveted prize for religious education from the Education Ministry.
Later in the day, another group was caught in a flash flood in an area where there were orders not to hike. In another incident near Ein Gedi, a driver who did not heed police orders had to climb on the roof of her car to escape drowning
Helicopters ferried workers from the Dead Sea Works after land access was flooded. Israel Army personnel also rescued an Arab whose car was washed away by the flash floods. Another Arab was killed and two others were missing.
The country's first heavy rains of the seasons dropped hail the size of ping-pong balls fell in the Jerusalem areas, causing widespread damage.
Winter pounded most of Israel with thunderstorms and hail Friday, giving the country its first heavy rain since last spring.
The heaviest precipitation fell near Be'er Sheva, and some roads in the south were closed due to flooding. Heavy hail fell in the capital this morning, including "tennis-ball sized stones," according to eyewitnesses who said that many cars were substantially damaged. More rain is forecast throughout the day, tapering off on Saturday.
Flooding is expected in the Jordan Valley and Judean Desert areas, traditionally dangerous areas for hikers and drivers not familiar with flash floods that often roar down mountainsides into areas where there is little or no precipitation.
The level of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel's largest reservoir, now stands at 210.67 meters below sea level, almost two meters below the optimal level. It dropped approximately a centimeter a day over the past two months. Each meter represents 170 million cubic meters of water.
In a normal winter, the lake rises almost two meters. Last year was the first time in 10 years the Kinneret was filled to optimum levels.