BEIRUT — Heavy rains and fierce winds pummeled countries across the Middle East over the weekend, sinking a ship off Israel’s coast and killing a woman in Lebanon whose car was crushed when a tree fell on it.
The storm brought unusually cold temperatures, below freezing in some spots. It ended weeks of unseasonably warm and dry weather that contributed to dozens of forest fires in Lebanon and helped feed a massive blaze in Israel that destroyed thousands of acres of forest.
It whipped up sandstorms in Jordan and Egypt, which closed its largest Mediterranean port. In Syria, snow blanketed the streets of Damascus for the first time this winter. Schools sent students home early, and children ventured outside to play in the streets.
Syrian authorities closed their main port of Tartous. In Egypt, 12-foot waves forced shut the port of Alexandria — the country’s largest — as well as another in the town of Nuweiba along the Red Sea coast of the Sinai Peninsula.
Heavy rains flooded the streets in Beirut, and snow forced some road closures in remote mountain towns in Lebanon. A woman died Saturday night when an uprooted tree fell on her car in the northern port city of Tripoli, authorities said. Flights in and out of Beirut’s international airport were delayed.
Off the Israeli coast, a Moldovan cargo ship sank in stormy weather about 7 miles off the port city of Ashdod, and a Turkish ship was safely towed 2 miles to shore after sending out distress calls.
An official from Israel’s shipping and ports authority, Yigal Maor, said the Moldovan vessel’s 11-member crew scrambled onto lifeboats and was rescued by a nearby Taiwanese ship. The Israeli military said its sailors arrived safely ashore.
The storm briefly disrupted operations at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport. Israel’s two main seaports, Haifa and Ashdod, were closed through the day because of high seas and roaring winds.
Elsewhere in Israel, rain and hail pounded the country while strong winds toppled trees and traffic lights, flooding streets and knocking out electricity to hundreds of homes.
In the Gaza Strip, strong winds and lashing rains caused cracks in the pier and the breakfront at the harbor local fishermen use.
Sandstorms blanketed Cairo for a second day Sunday, choking the air with dust and turning the sky a tepid beige. Doormen and shopkeepers tried in vain to keep the swirling dust at bay, sweeping sidewalks and dusting off parked cars.
