Heavy snow storm leaves thousands without electricity

 

The Israeli electricity company was still repairing lines damaged by snow or fallen branches. More than 35,000 Israeli families had been without power for up to three days, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told dpa, mostly in and around Jerusalem and in northern Israel.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian homes throughout the West Bank were also cut off. The Israeli military used armoured vehicles to provide assistance in and around Jerusalem. At least four people were killed in Israel - a man who fell off a roof, two people swept away by floods in the southern Negev desert, and a girl burnt in an accident involving a heater, police said. One man also fell to his death in the West Bank. 

The storm hit the Middle East on Thursday, bringing snow as far south as Cairo, for the first time in over 100 years.In Israel and the West Bank, towns and cities at higher altitudes were covered in snow, including Jerusalem, Safed, Nablus and Hebron. Other areas were hit by heavy rains, including Gaza, which sawflooding.The main highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem was shut down.

Thousands of cars were stranded in the snow. Many were left behind by their owners. The Israeli railway company operated special trains from Jerusalem on Saturday, for the first time in Israel's history, despite the Jewish Sabbath. Schools stayed closed on Sunday - the beginning of the week in Israel- in many locations.

In Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo, several animals died, including two flamingos hit by a falling palm tree, spokeswoman Sigalit Herz said.