Tel Aviv, MINA – A massive flood sank the Israeli military hangar in the southern region last week. The incident resulted in several Israeli F-16 fighter jets severely damaged and had to undergo repairs.
A total of eight F-16 fighter jets were damaged by floods that inundated the Hatzor military air force base in southern Israel-occupied territory following extreme rainfall occurred early Thursday morning last week.
After trying to censor the news for several days, the Israeli military acknowledged the damage on Sunday night.
Heavy rain caused flooding on the runway and two fighter jet hangars. Floods reached a height of one and a half meters inside the hangar, Haaretz reported.
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A senior Israeli Air Force official who asked not to be named acknowledged on Monday that eight of Israel’s most sophisticated fighter jets were badly damaged. He added that this could have been prevented if the army had prepared for the storm beforehand.
He explained three of the fighter planes from the United States were seriously damaged, while five had less damage and could return to work in the coming weeks.
The repairs are estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars.
Channel 12 News reported that some mechanics needed to be rescued from the flood hangar as well. The Israeli Air Force must also rescue soldiers based in the area near the plane, with no injuries reported.
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Heavy floods inundated large parts of Nahariya, south of the Israeli colony near the Lebanese border, along the coast and the Negev desert, last week. (T/R6/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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