© Police spokesman's departmentAn Ashkelon street collapses under the weight of a massive rainstorm in November
Schools and roads engulfed as downpour drowns coastal city with 92 millimeters in a single hourNearly 10 centimeters of rain fell in only one hour Thursday in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon, flooding schools and kindergartens, bringing chaos to roads, and setting a new meteorological record for rainfall in a single hour.
Local police and firemen were out in force in kayaks, rubber rafts and all-terrain vehicles to bail out drivers and pedestrians stranded by the torrential downpour.
Two lanes collapsed on Ben Yehuda Street, and Bialik and Hatayassim streets were deluged and had to be closed.
Reports came in of flooding at the city's Beit Hehezkel and Neve Dekalim schools and at several city kindergartens. Staff at Barzilai hospital mopped up rainwater that had seeped in and continued work as normal.
The Israel Meteorological Service reported from its Ashkelon station that 112 millimeters of rain fell between 7 a.m. and noon Thursday, while the the station of the Local Towns Association — which is automated and measures rainfall constantly — registered 118 millimeters.
Of that rain,
a national record of 92 millimeters fell in 60 minutes — breaking the previous record for a downfall in an hour of 88 millimeters, set by Haifa University in October 2008. Ashkelon now also has the dubious honor of holding first place for the most rain in half an hour — 67 millimeters.
Comment: Last month heavy flooding in Israel led to a road collapse and submerged cars, whilst two Egyptian children drowned in floods in Jordan.