The storm, which caused temperatures to plunge to below freezing in some places, ended weeks of unseasonably warm and dry weather across the region that caused dozens of forest fires in Lebanon and helped feed a massive blaze in Israel that destroyed thousands of hectares of forest.

It whipped up sand storms in Egypt and Jordan, while in Syria snow blanketed the streets of Damascus for the first time this winter. Schools sent students home early and children ventured outside to play in the streets.

Heavy rain and strong winds battered cities along the Mediterranean coast. Syrian authorities closed their main port of Tartous, while 4-meter (12-foot) waves forced Egypt to shut down the port of Alexandria — the country’s largest — as well as another in Nuweiba.

Off the Israeli coast, a Moldovan cargo ship sunk in stormy weather about seven miles (11 kilometers) off the port city of Ashdod, and a Turkish ship was safely towed two miles to shore after sending out distress calls.

An official from Israel’s shipping and ports authority, Yigal Maor, said the Moldovan vessel’s 11-member crew scrambled onto lifeboats and was rescued by a nearby Taiwanese ship. The Israeli military said its sailors arrived safely ashore.

Elsewhere in Israel, rain and hail pounded the country while strong winds toppled trees and traffic lights, flooding streets and knocking out electricity to hundreds of homes. Local media reported that a pier at the ancient port city of Caesarea collapsed, a breakfront at another beach cracked and towering waves washed over the shore of Eilat, a Red Sea port city.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said northern Israel was hit hardest by the storm, and that extra police patrols were dispatched to divert traffic because of downed trees.

Two police officers were lightly injured when a tree fell on their patrol car, Rosenfeld said.

In the Gaza Strip, strong winds and lashing rains caused cracks in the pier and the breakfront at the harbor local fishermen use. No one was hurt, but civil defense workers and the Gaza maritime police were hauling boats out of the water and moving them and other fishing equipment to safer ground.

Heavy rains flooded the streets in Beirut and snow forced some road closures in remote mountain towns in Lebanon. A woman died Saturday night when an uprooted tree fell on her car in the northern port city of Tripoli, authorities said.

Flights in and out of Beirut’s international airport were delayed.

Egypt was hit by rain and winds reaching speeds of up to 37 miles (60 kilometers) per hour in Alexandria on its north coast. Officials said the collapse of a six-story textiles factory in the city that was originally attributed in part to rain was in fact not weather-related.

Sand storms swept across Cairo, choking the air with dust and turning the sky a tepid beige. Doormen and shopkeepers tried in vain to keep the swirling dust at bay, sweeping sidewalks and dusting off parked cars.

Jordan also wrestled with sand storms kicked up by winds reaching up to 55 miles (90 kilometers) per hour, police said. Visibility was severely limited, and authorities closed major highways in the eastern desert linking Jordan with neighboring Iraq and southern roads leading to the ancient city of Petra, a major tourist attraction.

A police statement said low visibility caused a 10-car pileup in a district south of the capital Amman, which left 16 people injured.

Cairo airport remained open while Amman airport reported up to two-hour delays in domestic and international flights.