As cold snap continues, Holon man found dead of exposure
By Haaretz Staff
The mercury dipped to five below zero Celsius last night in the Negev's Uvda Valley while Jerusalem registered 7 degrees, and Eilat 15 degrees, in the cold snap currently engulfing the country, which meteorologists expect to last until Wednesday.
A homeless man in his 30s was found frozen to death at 7 A.M. yesterday at the entrance to a locked shelter in the basement of a four-story apartment house in Holon. The Holon municipality said the man was not known to the welfare authorities and was apparently not from the city. "A thin coat and a bottle of vodka were his only way of keeping warm," paramedic Itzik Spielberg, called to the scene by police, said. Spielberg said the man had apparently frozen to death a few hours before he was found.
Advertisement
A four-month old baby from the village of Nahf near Karmiel was brought to the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya early yesterday morning suffering from hypothermia. Her condition improved and the head of the hospital's pediatric intensive care unit, Dr. Ze'ev Sonis, said she is out of danger.
Emergency gov't funding
Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog yesterday ordered the transfer of NIS 750 million to local authorities for assistance to those who have been hit by the cold, to be matched by NIS 250,000 in local funds, for the purchase of heaters, blankets and coats. The ministry is also considering augmenting teams of welfare workers who deal with the homeless. According to ministry figures, the homeless number approximately 3,200. Last year, 29 homeless people died of exposure, 72 fewer than during the previous year.
Western Galilee farmers reported little crop damage. However, Negev farmers said the frost had severely damaged their potato crops. Crop damage was also reported in the Arava and Jordan valleys, some even in hothouses.
The Meteo-Tech weather forecast company said yesterday that mountain areas would start to warm up, while low-lying regions would remain unseasonably cold until Wednesday.
Bee-keepers are concerned that the cold weather will affect their hives.
According to Yoash Sadeh, in charge of the apiaries at Kibbutz Afikim in the northern Jordan Valley, bees warm the hive with the continued movement of their wings. "But after a night and a day of cold, their wings tire out and their battery goes dead," Sadeh said.
The head of Jerusalem's bird-watching station, ornithologist Amir Balaban, says northern species of birds not usually seen in Israel have arrived here with the cold weather, including a songbird called the goldcrest, which has been spotted in the Yarkon Park north of Tel Aviv.
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
