Flooding Closes Major Highway, Causes Power Outages Across Israel

Route 90, a major highway in southern Israel, was closed Tuesday from the Lido Junction to Eilat due to severe flooding. All roads leading to and from Eilat are currently impassable for vehicles. Other affected routes include sections of Route 57, Route 25, Route 40, Route 13, and Route 12. Police are actively responding to incidents caused by the stormy weather, conducting searches for stranded hikers and vehicles with the assistance of a police helicopter. Eilat residents will only be permitted to leave the city to reach Ramon Airport.

In parallel, power outages were reported in the local council of Kedumim and the city of Rahat. Ozal Vatik, head of the Kedumim Local Council, stated that despite the blackout, the council's election headquarters remained operational to encourage voter turnout. However, Talal Alqarnawi, the mayor of Rahat, described the situation as "very stressful," noting that the city-wide outage, lasting nearly an hour, prevented voting at five polling stations due to a lack of emergency lighting.