(Jerusalem Post) – Israel broke a more than 50-year record for the highest amount of rainfall in northern Israel on Thursday, according to the Israel Meteorological Service, as the heavy rains that have swept the nation over the last two weeks are expected to continue through Friday. Emergency services remain on high alert across the country, and municipalities have put special measures in place, from positioning sandbags in key areas to clearing drainage systems, in an effort to prevent further casualties or damage.

In the northern coastal plain and Ramot Menashe, some 350 to 400 millimeters have accumulated over the last two weeks, and more than 400 mm. fell in the Western and Upper Galilee – in some areas reaching as much as 450 mm. The service reported that this amount of rainfall over a two-week period is highly unusual.

Since it began taking official rain measurements 80 years ago, such large quantities of rain have been measured in northern Israel only twice: in December 1951 and January 1969. A record was also broken in southern Israel where, according to the meteorological service, some 122 mm. fell, breaking a 76-year-old record. READ MORE