Around 40,000 Israeli homes went off the power grid Friday as a rare storm battered the eastern Mediterranean region, Israel Electrical Company said in a statement.

Most of the power cuts were reported in the Jerusalem district where the storm hit most heavily.

The Electrical Company advised citizens to "be prepared for a weekend without electricity," and reckoned it would take days to repair numerous malfunctions caused by strong winds.

The storm, raging for three consecutive days, has paralyzed the traffic across the country and blocked all entries to Jerusalem.

The police called for citizens to stay indoors, saying driving on icy highways may be "a real life threat."

"We are facing a battle against a rare storm, the likes of which we have never seen," said Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

Many cars and buses were trapped on Highway 1 linking Tel Aviv with Jerusalem, and vehicles of Israel Defense Forces were working throughout Thursday night to aid police volunteers to rescue stranded drivers.

Army Radio reported by Friday noon, some 2,400 citizens were rescued by police and army, and they had been taken to community centers and military bases in Jerusalem.

On Friday, Israel temporarily opened the Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza to allow in heating gas and four water pumps in light of the flooding caused by the severe weather condition.

The storm started on Tuesday night and intensified on Thursday. Meteorologists forecast it will last at least until Sunday.