Sky bombards village with giant hailstones

Considering the size of the hailstones, it was a miracle that none was hurt. Some of the ice blocks that hurled themselves on earth had not melted by morning, seven to eight hours after they fell.

The hail stones drew large crowds of visitors from the villages around and even places as far as Arasikere, who were carrying away pieces of the melting hailstones as souvenirs.

Some took away the pieces of hail for their “medicinal” properties, believing that the hail could cure illnesses.

Crop destroyed

Saplings of chilli, bittergourd and mini cucumber plants in a field were flattened by the fury of the hail onslaught. The unusually large icy stones tore to shreds the plastic netting on the field.

The massive hailstones also destroyed saplings worth lakhs of rupees in seed production plots. Tahsildar T V Prakash put the loss at over Rs four lakh.

The rain accompanying the hailstorm damaged tomato, sugarcane and other crops in villages around Hikkingeri.

Six houses at Haluvagalu and one Basapura also suffered damage.