15 Killed as Flooding, Snow Punish Mideast

Snowstorms swept the eastern Mediterranean again Sunday, blanketing Jerusalem and other cities in the region’s harshest winter in more than 40 years. At least 15 people died in floods and avalanches.

Israel Radio said the Sea of Galilee, a major source of drinking and irrigation water for the Jewish state, was rising a half-inch an hour as the season’s third snowstorm hit.

With the lake level up 6 feet since November, the city of Tiberias was in danger of being flooded, and the radio reported late Sunday that millions of gallons of water were released into the already flooded Jordan River. The water headed for the Dead Sea, where the high salt content would make it unusable.