Residents in shock as hailstones cause havoc

A section of Ting'a covered by hailstones Sunday evening. PHOTO/Nyang'au Araka, The Scholar Media Africa.

Residents of sections of Nyamira and Kisii counties are counting losses after a heavy downpour accompanied with hailstones pounded their villages Sunday evening.

Food crops including vegetables, maize and tea were extensively damaged.

Affected villages include Sironga, Ikobe and Ting’a in Nyamira County.

The lower side of Ting’a, including Nyankanda which is within Kisii County also got its share of the hailstones.

The hailstones formed huge heaps on the roadsides, farms and roofs.

“The land looks strange you may think you are in a foreign land,” Evans Ouru, a resident of Ting’a said.

Cattle that were tethered in an open ground near Ting’a market were not spared the rage of nature.

However, we did not receive any reports of deaths of animals by press time Monday.

Drivers plying Kisii-Chemosit road were forced to be more careful to avoid skidding.

Monday morning, Agasa Okwena who was planning to harvest his tea was in shock.

“The tea is badly damaged. I have nothing to harvest any time soon,” Okwena said.

His neighbour, Rose Ombasa, said she only applied fertiliser on her tea farm on Friday.

“The extent of erosion means the fertiliser has been swept away,” she said.

Experts say hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze.

The hail falls when the thunderstorm’s updraft can no longer support the weight of the hailstone.

This can occur if the stone becomes large enough or the updraft weakens.

PICTORIAL

A vegetable garden destroyed by hailstones. PHOTO/Nyang’au Araka, The Scholar Media Africa.
Residents walk home after the downpour. PHOTO/Nyang’au Araka, The Scholar Media Africa.
Footprints left on the roadside at Ting’a after the heavy downpour. PHOTO/Nyang’au Araka, The Scholar Media Africa.
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Mr. Araka is the pioneer reporter and editor at The Scholar. His satirical segment, The Idler's Corner is very popular with our readers. He is also a published novelist and biographer.

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