Severe tropical storm Maria, rated just below typhoon strength, made landfall around in northeastern Japan near Ofunato city moving northwest at 15 kmh with sustained winds of 90 kph and gusts up to 126 kph.

The storm brought record-breaking rainfall, with Kuji city in Iwate Prefecture recording 362-368.5 mm of rain in 24 hours, leading to warnings of landslides, flooding, and inundation of low-lying areas.

A top-level emergency warning (Level 5) was issued for parts of Nagauchi and Kokuji areas within the Nagauchi River basin of Kuji city, urging residents to evacuate or seek shelter.

Multiple buildings in Takusari area of Miyako city experienced flooding, and several rivers were at risk of overflowing due to an emergency release from the Taki Dam.

Maria is expected to move slowly into the Sea of Japan by evening, potentially weakening into a tropical depression by Tuesday, bringing prolonged rain, landslides, overflowing rivers, strong wind, and high waves to the region.

Numerous flights to the northern region were cancelled due to the typhoon.

Sources: NY Times, Japan Times, Straits Times, Yomiuri

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Hazut was laid to rest in Beersheba Wednesday evening. Thousands attended his funeral.

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Bezalel Hazut, Asher's brother, said, "He was a good Torah scholar and I hope things will be good for him in Heaven."

Asher's sister-in-law Efrat, 30, was also injured in the lightning strike on Tuesday and is still hospitalized in serious condition, also at Barzilai Medical Center. Three other family members were injured to various degrees.

On Wednesday, messages exchanged by family members who were not with Asher and the others at the beach were made public. The first message includes a link to a news item about the lightning strike. One member of the messaging group asks, "Who is critically injured???"

The messages continue to try and clarify who had been injured, if at all. One reads, "Mom and Dad aren't answering, call Elazar [Asher's brother, who sustained moderate injuries from the lightning]."

Itamar Hazut, whose brother and sister-in-law were among the injured, recalled the events and his injured brother's heroic actions immediately after the strike: "My brother was resuscitating his wife, and tried to take care of the other three brothers, all while his hand and leg were paralyzed. They were about to head home when the lightning bolt struck them all."

Itamar, who was not with them at the beach, said, "They were walking in a line, and then everyone was thrown. My older brother Elazar was resuscitating his wife, Efrat, and saw that she was unconscious. While he was resuscitating her, he went back to our younger brothers to help them. He was calling for help, people called an ambulance, and somehow he managed to help the injured with a paralyzed arm, a paralyzed leg, and in a weakened state."

Asher's mother said her children enjoy spending time at the beach.

"They went out to have a beach day, have fun, calm down. When the rain started, they decided to go home, and then the deadly lighting struck," she said.

The bereaved mother said that her family is observant and both she and her husband are teachers in the religious school system.

"As people of faith, it's clear that this could not have been foreseen. Weather can be deadly. We are praying and we welcome the help from the people of Israel, and ask that they keep praying for our children's safety," she said.

On Wednesday, Zikim Beach was empty.

"People are afraid to come, they think the beach is cursed," members of a nearby kibbutz said.

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Shimon and Hadas Metzger of Nof Hagalil (previously, Nazareth Illit) said, "This is the second year in a row we've 'raised up the booth of David that is fallen [Amos 9:11].'"

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"It's definitely disappointing to put time and energy into building a sukkah with the kids and then see it wrecked, but it really underscores the sukkah's temporary nature. Thank God, friends from the community immediately came together to help us rebuild the sukkah," they said.

Sometimes, a collapsed sukkah reveals a touching personal story, as happened in the case of a young rabbi and teacher who came across the remains of an elderly couple's sukkah as he was walking the rainy streets of Jerusalem.

"They wanted to rebuild their sukkah, which was falling apart from the heavy rain," he said.

As a neighbor passed by, she pointed out that they were wasting their time. The woman was deeply hurt and went inside, in tears. Her husband explained to the rabbi that their son had been killed in the First Lebanon War and every year, his wife lit a candle in his memory in their sukkah.

"This is how deeply the Jewish people love their mitzvot, and how deeply the pain of bereaved parents runs," the man told him.

In Pekiin in the Western Galilee, no fewer than 21 sukkot were ruined by the storms.

Nirel Maman, a resident of the settlement Avnei Hefetz in Samaria, took the collapse of his own sukkah with good humor. He invited friends whose sukkot had met similar fates to send him pictures of the damage for a "ruined sukkah competition."

"Do you think your sukkah was damaged the worst? That the decorations your kids made are the most torn? Photograph your sukkah, tag it #ruinedsukka or #fallingsukka and you can win valuable prizes! Send your pictures and your contact details and we will publish them, with credit, of course," Maman wrote.

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