A severe sandstorm struck Israel this week for the second time in two years, disrupting air travel, increasing air pollution and forcing persons with respiratory problems to remain indoors.
Because of a depression over the eastern Mediterranean, heavy winds and dust carried to Israel from North Africa. “High concentrations of air pollution, above air quality standards” caused a “public health concern,” Dr. Levona Cordoba of the Environmental Protection Ministry said in a statement. “Therefore we recommend that vulnerable populations, including people with heart and/or lung disease, the elderly, children and pregnant women, avoid strenuous physical exercise.”
Skies turned a dusty hue of pink. Flash floods in low-lying areas, because of rainfall, as well as fog, were predicted.
Domestic airports in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Eilat cancelled flights or rerouted landings to Ben-Gurion Airport in Lod.
The sandstorms were strongest along the coast, where a painter in Netanya, inset, worked on a landscape, and the city’s coastal buildings, inset, were barely visible.
The New York Jewish Week brings you the stories behind the headlines, keeping you connected to Jewish life in New York. Help sustain the reporting you trust by donating today.
