Fish is a valued commodity in Sri Lanka. It simply rained from
the sky. can we imagine? Absolutely it is true..
A storm in Sri Lanka (Chilaw, Galahitiyawe, Madampe) caused 50
kilograms of fish to literally rain from the sky in the town of Chilaw
recently. Villagers in west Sri Lanka have said they have been surprised and
delighted by an unusual rainfall of small fish.
Residents of the Galahitiyawe area in Madampe, Chilaw say that
fish had rained down on their village along with the rainfall that fell on one
fine morning. Many residents had collected the falling fish. Residents say the
fish had fallen along with the rainfall for about one and a half hours.
The edible fish fell during a storm and are believed to have
been lifted out of a river during a strong wind.
Villagers in the district of Chilaw said they heard something
heavy falling and found scores of fish with a total weight of 50kg (110lbs).
It is not the first such incident in Sri Lanka - in 2012, a case
of `prawn rain` was recorded in the south.
The fish were very small, from 5 to 8 centimeters in length,
according to the BBC. Scientists believe that strong winds from a storm likely
swept the fish out of the water. This isn’t the first reported case of raining
fish in Sri Lanka.
BBC forecaster Steve Cleaton explained the
phenomenon.
`In the Sri Lankan storm, a tornado probably formed over land,
drifted over river systems or coastal waters and sucked up light fish that were
lifted all the way into the base of the storm cloud. Later the fish were rained
out of the cloud.`
Scientists say that--
`fish rain` usually occurs when swirling whirlwinds over relatively shallow
water develops into waterspouts and sucks in almost anything in the water
including fish, eels and even frogs.
The marine life can be carried long distances by buffeting
clouds even when the waterspout stops spinning.
Sri Lankan Villagers say that the `fish rain shower` took place
on recent day with the creatures falling on the village green, roads and roofs.
Some of the fish - each three to five inches (5cm-8cm) in length
- were still alive and were put in a buckets of water by villagers who ate them
later.
This is the third time this has happened in Sri Lanka, but not
from the same area.
In addition to the reported `prawn rain` of 2012 in the south,
there was yellow and red `meteor rain` the same year - a weather development
that is reportedly still being investigated by US and British scientists.
