EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Watch as Rare Hail Storm Batters Israel

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JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Aaron Klein

TEL AVIV — A rare hail storm struck parts of the Jewish state on Wednesday, with flash floods resulting in the deaths of two teenagers who got swept away in separate incidents.

The most intense hail lasted about five minutes here in Tel Aviv, but was preceded and followed by strong thunderstorms that damaged the outside of buildings, downed trees and caused electrical outages.

Below are videos of the hail storm taken by this reporter from Rabin Square in central Tel Aviv:

There were reports of hail the size of golf balls in some areas.

The Times of Israel reported on the deaths of the two teenagers:

In southern Israel, rescue crews used a helicopter to locate a 17-year-old Bedouin boy swept away in Mamashit stream in the Negev desert, but he was pronounced dead after being found, police said.

In the West Bank, police said rescue teams were searching for a young Palestinian woman who was reported to have been swept away by flooding near the settlement of Ma’ale Amos. Later Wednesday her body was found.

Separately, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated some 42 high-school students suffering from light hypothermia after they got trapped in flooding while on a school trip near Kfar Hanokdim in southern Israel.

Haaretz reported on the large volume of rainfall within the span of one hour in Tel Aviv:

Twenty-five millimeters of rain fell in Tel Aviv in just one hour. This is 25 percent more than the entire average rainfall for the entire month of April in the city, 20 millimeters. Large amounts of rain also fell in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, 45 to 50 millimeters.

Part of the Ayalon Highway in the middle of Tel Aviv was closed by flooding, and a number of roads in the city were blocked by fallen trees. In Rishon Letzion, a ceiling collapsed in a commercial center. No injuries were reported. A main thoroughfare in the city, Jabotinsky Road, was closed to traffic in both directions because of flooding.

Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.

 

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