Storm, strong winds knock out trees and power

110 kph winds cause injuries, cut power in cities throughout the country; snow falls on the Hermon.

Stormy weather jerusalem 311 AJ (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Stormy weather jerusalem 311 AJ
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A number of people were injured, traffic was disrupted and electricity was cut Wednesday due to winds that reached up to 110 kilometers per hour as a late-February winter storm swept across the country.

In Tel Aviv, a large tree was toppled on the city's central King George Street, taking down an electricity line with it. The street was closed to traffic as crews worked to clear the tree and restore electricity.A number of other trees were uprooted in Tel Aviv, causing damage to cars.In Herzliya, Netanya, Ramat Hasharon, municipal crews were working to clear fallen trees from city streets. In Netanya, a driver was trapped when a tree fell on his car. Emergency crews freed the uninjured driver from his vehicle.In Netanya, a 70-year-old man was lightly injured by flying glass from a shattered store door. Magen David Adom crews treated the man on the scene and evacuated him to a hospital.In the North, a major road in Hatzor Haglilit was closed to traffic due to a number of uprooted trees strewn across the road. Police were allowing traffic accessing the city from the direction of Safed.The Israel Electric Company said its crews were working to restore electricity in a number of locations. It asked the public to stay away from downed power lines and to report such dangerous instances to its hotline, *103.In the North, snow fell Wednesday morning on the Hermon Mountain in the Golan Heights, leading police to close access to the area. Schools in the Golan Heights closed early Wednesday and sent children home due to the snow.By the afternoon snow flurries spread to the south over the Golan, prompting authorities to close Route 91 between the Hasharyon and Wasat junctions leading to the Golan settlement Ein Zivan. Snow was expected to reach other mountain areas in the North later Wednesday and it was possible snow would reach mountains in the Center of the country Wednesday night.