Floodwaters from the Mediterranean inundated parts of Israel’s coastal cities in the latest of a string of droughts that have forced the government to order mandatory evacuations of large parts of the country.
The National Insurance Institute said on Monday that it had received 3,934 claims from homeowners who have been flooded in the past three days, up from 2,531 claims the previous week.
It said its data shows that a total of more than 30,000 claims were received in the last week, the highest total since April.
“We are facing a very serious situation,” said Amir Al-Khatib, the institute’s director.
“We are in the midst of a disaster.
We cannot keep our heads down and hope that the government and the industry will manage to manage it in a timely fashion.”
According to the Insurance Institute, the number of people affected by the floods has more than doubled since the start of the year, from just under 1,000 to 2,600.
The latest claim data showed that the number reached 3,858 on Sunday.
The latest claims were not a total surprise to the insurance industry, given that floods and droughty weather have become increasingly common in Israel in recent years.
But the recent increase in claims reflects a spike in the number insured by the industry, which has faced unprecedented pressure to respond to the ongoing flooding.
“The industry is under unprecedented pressure,” said Al-Bakhtiari, the head of the industry body.
“I am not sure we have any hope of managing the crisis as a whole.”
In the past year, flooding has led to the cancellation of around a dozen public holidays and prevented hundreds of thousands of Israelis from returning to work.
Insurance officials have warned that they may have to reduce their insurance coverage to avoid a repeat of the catastrophe in the next week.
In a statement, the insurance company said that the recent surge in flood claims had been the result of a change in the law.
“In July 2015, the government decided to limit the amount of insurance coverage available to all citizens, including private citizens,” the statement said.
“The new law also states that insurance coverage must be unlimited, regardless of income level.”
Therefore, the law stipulates that the insureds who are affected by floods have to pay for all damages.
The increase in flood damages is therefore due to the change in legislation and not to the fact that there is a change of law.
“According the Insurance Council of Israel, the country’s insurance industry was hit hard by the 2014 floods, when the country experienced record flooding that led to more than 40 deaths and millions of dollars in damage.
In January 2015, Israeli authorities banned the sale of insurance to people who do not have insurance.
The ban, which was lifted in February, had been in place for two years.
Since the new law, the flood insurance industry has been hit hard, said Gavriel Eglash, the chairman of the Council of the Insurance Industry of Israel.
In his latest letter to the minister of health, Eglish said that in order to reduce the number and severity of claims, the industry must find a solution that allows insurance companies to cover claims for a certain period of time, while not causing significant harm to its customers.
He said the insurance companies would be better off to consider the costs of the flood damage and the damages that it would cause.
Eglash added that he was concerned that some insurance companies are not covering the damage and will not cover claims because the insurance market has changed.
The Israeli Insurance Council had earlier said that it was willing to make a compromise that would allow the insurance sector to cover flood damage but that it needs to be negotiated with the government.
The insurance industry is not the only one facing a difficult time.
The Israeli government has been struggling to pay its bills and the country is suffering from a severe drought.
In recent weeks, the weather has been particularly harsh, with the country suffering heavy rain and flooding across much of the northeast.
Some farmers have been forced to leave their fields because of the heavy rains.
The government has warned that it may cut off water supplies for a significant period of the week.