Stormy weather hits Israel, Palestinians
2013-01-07 17:56
Jerusalem - Stormy weather, high winds and heavy
rainfall, lashed Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday, downing
power lines and trees and causing several injuries.
"The storms injured six people, most of whom were
lightly hurt when trees were knocked over," Israeli police spokesperson
Luba Samri told AFP.
Israeli military radio said winds were gusting at speeds
of up to 120km/h and in neighbourhoods across Jerusalem, the results were
clear.
Trees were toppled at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif
complex that houses the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques, and branches were
strewn in streets across the city.
Electricity outages caused by downed power lines were
reported throughout the country.
Israel's meteorological service says this winter will be
the wettest in the past decade, and with temperatures expected to plunge in
coming days, much of the country could see snow this week.
The stormy weather came as Orthodox Christians in the
Holy Land celebrated Christmas on Monday.
In the Gaza Strip, "civil protection teams responded
to a number of incidents, among them the collapse of shop signs, roads blocked
by falling trees and metal awnings blown away," the civil protection
service said.
In the West Bank, civil protection spokesperson Louai
Bani Odeh said no injuries had been reported so far.
He told AFP that an electrical fire started by flooding broke
out in a house in a village near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, but was
brought under control without injuring anyone.
"Many roads in towns and villages across the West
Bank are flooded. Some of them are blocked by trees and billboards that were
knocked over. Many shops are closed," he said.
