Flood in the Arava River

Every day for a week in advance our local Arava Drainage Authority warned us: a huge storm is heading our way - batten down! Thunder, lightening, high winds and heavy rain blew up from Egypt and pounded the Arava in the middle of January, dumping almost the average annual rainfall (over 30 mm) on the region during a day and a half. Water flowed in all of the dry river beds in the region and the big wadis turned into raging rivers. The Arava River, which runs along the Jordanian border, rose quickly and filled up all of the region's reservoirs as it surged towards the Dead Sea.

 Hazeva Reservoir

Residents of the Arava were out in force as soon as the rain abated, enjoying the spectacle of water in the desert, and admiring the floods in the wadis. Unfortunately two people who came to the region to see the floods were swept away and died in the Arava River, when they underestimated the power of the current and tried to cross the river in their jeep. Rescuers, including IDF's elite Unit 669 and the local Arava Rescue Unit, faced difficult conditions and the danger of active mines along the Jordanian border when searching for the jeep's occupants.

Overturned jeep in the Arava River

Trucks were also stranded in the Faran and Arava Rivers, with the IDF coming to rescue drivers and passengers. The proximity to main electrical lines of the trucks stranded in the Arava River at the Moshav Hazeva crossing necessitating shutting off power to the moshav for several hours during the operation. The rescue near Faran can be seen in the following link (and do click on the head cam view as well): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2PWIremW58

Tractor passing near the stranded truck at the Hazeva crossing the next morning

Damage to agricultural resources caused by the storm is currently being evaluated, although the early warning helped farmers to prepare. Hopefully in the future visitors to the region will heed the cautions of the authorities and enjoy the floods without taking unnecessary risks.

Check out the clip posted on Youtube by Partnership activist Oded Keynan (and you may also want to have a look at the "morefrom: odedkeynan" option to see many other videos of the region posted by Oded): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9la-aCJzVfA

Additionally worth watching is the presentation on the floods in the entire southern part of Israel by well-known Israeli photographer Guy Shachar at: http://guyshachar.com/content/?PHPSESSID=3de27a49b013da17f0722c51b855b8b7

Arava residents admire the Zin River falls from a safe distance