The man, 32-year-old Motti Ben-Shabbat, was reportedly swept away while attempting to save a woman and her child during the storm. The woman’s car was caught in the flooded Ga’aton river which traverses the center of the city.
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MDA paramedic Eran Friedlander said: “We arrived with the ambulance at the beach near the marina. About 100 meters north of the Ga’aton river estuary on the waterline, we saw an unconscious man, without a pulse and not breathing.”

He continued, saying that “the sea was very turbulent and very large amounts of water flowed around us. We evacuated the man from the shore on a field stretcher while performing CPR, to the ambulance where we continued to give treatment in the form of CPR and medication – but unfortunately, we had to declare his death.”

A friend of Ben Shabat’s from Nahariya, who witnessed the incident, told Israel’s Channel 12 News that “he jumped in to save the guys. There was a guy in the car who drowned. He jumped into the water, and the current pulled him into the car and he disappeared inside after that. Now we already know he is at sea. We are mourning and hurt; I’ve known him from childhood. ”

He criticized the events leading up to death of his friend: “The infrastructure here is catastrophic; from disaster to disaster, nothing is learned. The car was trying to turn away from the flood, but got cornered and things escalated from there.”

Nahariya mayor Ronen Morelli said that “the city is currently closed from north to the south of the Gaaton river and cannot be crossed in any way that doesn’t involve search and rescue teams. The Israel Police are currently in charge of the situation. There are several forces on the scene for support, mainly to help residents of the north side of the city reach the south side.”

The mayor pleaded with people not to go out unless absolutely necessary. Schools in the entire region will be closed Thursday.

The torrential rains caused many other roads to become impassable and even the train sevices to Akko and Nahariya were stopped due to flooding. In Ashdod, storms and high winds caused a power outage and some 60,000 people were left in the dark without electricity. However, by 7pm Wednesday, electricity was back in order.

The storm is expected to intensify Wednesday evening and Thursday, with up to 200 mm of rain expected in the coastal region. After the elevator flooding which took the lives of two people Shabbat, emergency services and local authorities have reinforced in preparation for possible heavy flooding in low-lying areas.

The Israeli police are also preparing for the inclement weather by beefing up rescue units and deploying additional forces of police, firefighters and volunteers, who will be available in the event of torrential downpours. Police and air rescue units will also be on high alert until the weather subsides.

In response to the weather, the fire and rescue commissioner ordered operational reinforcements to all fire stations in the vicinity – including regional drones, the Lehava diving unit, and a provision of volunteer units on full alert.