115 mm of rain fell in the Holon area from Saturday to this morning, and in Tel Aviv - 108 mm • In all the Dan bloc, exceptional and high rainfalls were recorded

The storm that swept Israel over the past weekend saw large amounts of rain and high intensity. The numerous rains that descended in Tel Aviv and along the coastal plain caused many flooding in the urban areas, and in southern Tel Aviv Dean Shoshani and a mountainous fall perished in the flooded elevator. Many damages have been caused to infrastructure.

Tel Aviv residents talk about flooding in the city // Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon, Editor: Eden Barel

The largest amounts of rainfall on January 4 - which ended this morning at 08:00 - were measured at 115 mm in Mikve Israel (near Holon). At Tel Aviv beach station, 108 mm were measured. At other stations in the central and northern part of the Dan bloc, the quantities ranged from 60 to 90 mm. At the green village station north of Tel Aviv, the rainfall measured 55 mm.

In southern Tel Aviv there were very strong rainfall during the Sabbath, morning and noon. At Tel Aviv beach station (which is next to the Etzel Museum), 79 mm were measured within two hours, of which 67 mm in one hour, 54 mm in 30 minutes and 42 mm in 20 minutes.

These unusual rainfalls are the highest for these periods since the rainfalls began to register at the Gush Dan stations in the early 1940s. Probability tables indicate that for 20 to 30 minutes, the rainfall period for the Tel Aviv area is 100 years or more. Only other cases of rainfall of this magnitude were examined in other parts of the country - in Hadar Carmel in November 1949, in Jericho in October 1987, at the University of Haifa in October 2008 and in Ashkelon in November 2015.

The specified anomalies represent a narrow strip in the southern Tel Aviv area, and in the northern parts of the city the intensities were less anomalous.

Flooding in Florentine neighborhood // Photo: Ina Fredo

As it goes on for longer periods of time, rainfall levels in southern Tel Aviv were less exceptional. At the daily rainfall level, a rainfall of 100 to 120 mm a day of rain in the Tel Aviv area is not considered an exception and occurs once every five to ten years. .