F-16s Turn Submarine After Rains Flood Air Force Base (Updated)

Israel

Photo Credit: IDF

IDF F-16 onthe Hatzor air base. Jan. 13, 2020

Heavy rains, and lack of preparedness for the rains caused tens of millions of shekels of damage to eight Israeli F-16 fighter plane on the Hatzor airbase down south, early Thursday morning last week.

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The IDF censor attempted to squelch the reports of the damage, after two hangers and the air force base became flooded with 50 million liters of rain water and the fighter planes became submerged under a meter and a half of water. The IDF finally acknowledged the damage on Sunday.

A senior Air Force official said they made a mistake not evacuating the hangers in advance. No soldiers were injured in the event.

This is the second time this base was flooded by rains in the past few years, according to a YNet report.

The IDF is optimistic that they will be able to repair the planes and restore them to duty by next week.

Update: Jan. 14, 2019. The Air Force released a video implying that everything was back to normal. Though on Twitter, people are wondering if part of the footage they released was archive material.

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