After This Blog–The Deluge!

Article first published as http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/after-this-blog-the-deluge/

 

Even as Sky News carries regular reports of a Middle East drought of “biblical proportions”, the much anticipated  downpour is lashing against my office window here in Karmiel, Galilee.

The 24-hours of intermittent rain “followed by showers” we enjoyed on Monday and Tuesday suddenly reappeared in vengeance  as the Sabbath began.

Whether the joint prayers of spiritual leaders from this area’s three major faiths have helped, I dare not opine. However, our personal pre-Sabbath preparations included storing fragile patio furniture and plant containers until spring.

The emergency service, Magen David Adom has gone on a higher alert and ordered ambulances to be deployed in every district of the country. This is due to an Israel Meteorological Service forecast of the first serious storms of the season to include hail, high winds and torrential rain.

MDA personnel may have to deal with hypothermia as the IMS warns temperatures will plunge with the possibility of snow on Mount Hermon and sleet in other mountainous areas.

There will be steady rain tomorrow with a chance of flooding in low areas of the North, some rain in the Centre and a chance of sandstorms in the South. There may also be winds of up to 100 k.p.h., with lightning and hail. Sunday is also expected to be stormy, cold and windy but the rain and winds will decrease gradually with a chance of flooding on Monday.

The Israel Electric Corporation has asked consumers to secure any light objects that could be borne aloft by high winds and damage electric lines. It warns that if a line is brought down in a storm it may take time to restore power.

The storms may also cause trees damaged by last week’s fire in the Carmel Forest Reserve to fall down while the rain may erode soil in places no longer secured by trees.The area has been closed to non-residents until 26 December and the Agriculture Ministry has asked the public to avoid going there.

Technorati Tags: Israel,Rainstorms,Magen David Adom,Israel Meteorological Service,Israel Electric Corporatiion,Carmel Forest Fires,Damaged Trees,Agriculture Ministry

msniw

‘The Rains Came’

So Far: Too Little–Too Late!

The irony won’t have escaped anyone:

If only the overnight and early morning rains had occurred five days ago, we would have been spared the almighty conflagration with its loss of life and property.

Further, it is my painful duty to pass on the news of the passing of Haifa Police Commander Ahuva Tomer, 52.

Ms Tomer, the first woman in Israel to head a police station, died this morning from the 90% burns  she suffered in the fire on Thursday.

She had caught the full blast of the blaze while driving behind the bus carrying Prison Service cadets that became an inferno and caused the majority of the 43 deaths.

Arutz Sheva reported: “ … though doctors fought valiantly to save her life, and even noted a slight improvement in her condition yesterday, the situation worsened over night and she succumbed this morning. She is the 43rd victim of the fire, which claimed 36 Prison Service cadets; two other cadets are alive but in serious condition”.

• The photographs show the mist and rain from our flat in Karmiel early this morning. Although it has become quite cool, we have had no more rain for some hours and unwanted “sunny intervals”!

Technorati Tags: Rain.Carmel Forest Fires,Police Commander Ahuva Tomer,Deaths,Arutz Sheva

msniw

Carmel Clean-Up Begins Even While Final Fires Rage

Article first published as http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/carmel-clean-up-begins-even-while/ on Technorati

The Israeli authorities may be feeling bloodied and bowed but the terrible task of cleaning up after the Carmel Forest fires has begun even before the final flames have been extinguished.

During an extraordinary 24 hours in which Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas has offered help and sincere condolences and several people have been arrested in connection with setting fires, the costs of the past three-and-a-half days’ inferno are thus:

• More than 40 dead
• Dozens of severe burn injuries

• Five million trees destroyed.

• More than 12,300 acres of land wiped out.

• Three communities ruined. 

• Seventy-four buildings burned on Kibbutz Beit Oren, the Ein Hod artists’ village, and the Yamon-Ord boarding school, and a further 173 buildings partially burned.

• Almost 17,000 people  evacuated from their homes, from Israel Prison Service facilities,  hospitals and military jails

• NIS 3 - 4 billion – the equivalent of $700M or £445M.

But the Israel Treasury says some of the money will be paid by insurance companies.

“The figure is the estimated payment to homeowners whose property has been damaged, cleaning up the damage to the Carmel National Park, and the increased funding that will be given to Israel's firefighting efforts as a result of the fire”, according to Israel National News – Arutz Sheva.

"It's true that there are a number of sites where the fire is still active and we are concentrating our efforts there, but generally speaking if you look at the whole area of operations, it's better, more optimistic," fire-fighters' spokesman Boaz Rakia said.

He added that while it would take days to extinguish the fire completely, he hoped it might be brought under control today.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed two teenage brothers have been arrested on suspicion of causing the fire through negligence. There are unconfirmed reports of other arrests.

While some Israelis are bitter and some Facebook users have described the catastrophe as “the new intifada”, many others are already starting the arduous job of cleaning up and re-building their lives, even before the final flames are doused.

Police have already authorised evacuated residents of Nir Etzion, Ein Hod and Ein Hawd to return home but those from  Beit Oren have been ordered to remain away.

 

• Shimon Dayan, who was among early victims of the fire, was buried at Karmiel Military Cemetery yesterday at 1.00 p.m.

 

Technorati Tags: Carmel Forest Fires,Israel Treasury,Palestine Authority,President Mahmoud Abbas,Israel Prison Service,Ein Hod,Nir Etzion,Ein Hawd,Beit Oren,Boaz Rakia,Micky Rosenfeld

msniw

Carmel Forest – Before and After The Fire

Sights and Sounds of Natural Israel

The tranquil Carmel Forest  before the fire…

 

 

 

Carmel Forest Fire

Joel Chapter One

(Verse Seven)

“He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.”

… and during the conflagration

Technorati Tags: Carmel Forest,Youtube Videos,Before and After The Fires,Sights and Sounds of Natural Israel,Fierce Fires

msniw

Did Terrorism And Arson Cause Northern Israel Blaze?

  Article first published as Did Terrorism And Arson Cause Northern Israel Blaze? on Technorati.

It is becoming clear that arson or even terrorism may have helped to fan, if not actually cause the fires which continue to engulf large areas of northern Israel.

Moreover, Israel's enemies like Hezbollah , who are "overjoyed" by the disaster, are taking the opportunity to celebrate it as a P.R. coup and to make the world perceive Israel as incompetent.

After an initial inspection, the authorities believed the conflagration in the Carmel Forest area included deliberate acts of arson as the fires broke out at several locations and may have included the regular but illegal burning-off of toxic substances in rubbish heaps at the Arab town of Ossafia.

However, Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen, who hopes the fires will be extinguished today (Saturday), now believes it started at one site. His investigation teams will also know later today whether the disaster began as a result of negligence or arson.

The fires leapt out of control in high winds, killing more than 50 people, including a fellow resident of Karmiel, Shimon Dayan (29). Many more were savagely burned and are now lying in Haifa hospitals in a critical condition.

The pretty Haifa suburb of Denia where my cousins live was among the danger areas but I was assured that although some nearby roads were closed and properties there evacuated they had not been personally affected.

  My British-born cousin echoed concerns expressed about official incompetence. “We are thankful for the help that is coming into Israel from all over the world as it is quite clear we do not have the resources here to fight a fire of this scale”, he said.

Israel has enjoyed a swell of unprecedented - and surprised - international concern and active help even from countries with which it customarily has strained relations like Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. Yesterday, Premier, Benjamin Netanyahu announced a National Day of Mourning to mark the catastrophe, possibly the worst blaze in Israeli history. 

 

Mourning for the losses of the fire

Despite all efforts, the sort of howling, withering winds redolent of England’s Yorkshire Moors have hindered rescue efforts. It appears from the view I have at Karmiel – about 18 miles north-east of Haifa - that the flames and smoke are being pushed out to sea. The sky here is still  cloudless blue but a pall of smoke lying over Haifa Harbour has obliterated what is usually a perfect view which allows us often to see ships in dock.

 

 

 

 

 

So those of us left with the leisure to contemplate, are asking if the blaze has indeed been caused by arson, terrorism or  plain stupidity.  Only time, patience and a formal enquiry will even begin to sift the truth from the ashes of despair.

What began as a delightful Chanucah week with local school kids enjoying a  musical parade along our street on Thursday has turned into the ugliest holiday in modern Israeli history showing what can happen when a blaze generates more heat than light.

Technorati Tags: Northern Israel,Carmel Forest,Fires,Haifa,Ossafia,International Help,Firefighters,Turkey,Jordan,U.K.,Arson,Terrorism

msniw