Nyandarua residents thrilled by ice rocks from 'heaven'

Monday evening was just like any other normal day for James Njenga and his family.

The resident of Engineer in Kinangop, Nyandarua County, was ready to retire to bed with his family when an unusual thing happened.

They heard a bang some few metres from their house.

The father of four went to check what was happening on the Engineer-Njabini road, near their house.

“First, I thought it was an accident as normally happens along the busy road. To my surprise, I found two huge blocks of ice that had fallen from the clouds. That is when I alerted my neighbours,” said Njenga.

He said that he had not seen such huge blocks of ice before.

“This was surprising for all of us as we had not witnessed this before. It had also not rained that day and we wondered where such huge rocks of ice could have come from,” Njenga noted.

The incident, Njenga said, attracted a huge crowd that gathered at the scene.

John Chege, a resident, said he was told by neighbours that there was a peculiar rock that had fallen from the clouds.

“At first I thought it was a joke until I arrived at the scene. I found a huge crowd and witnessed at first hand the blocks of ice that started to melt,” Mr Chege said.

The incident, he said, left the whole village thrilled. “It was like a tourist site where everyone wanted to get a glimpse of the two huge blocks of ice. Everyone wanted to get pictured with the rocks,” he said.

In 2010, hundreds of acres of land at Boiman in Ol Juror were covered by hailstorms. In 2018, a similar incident also occurred in the same area where acres of land were covered by hailstorms.

According to weather experts, the hailstorms fall as a result of the rain-making process failing to materialise.

“In this case, the Aberdare Ranges are the main cause of weather changes and wind direction since Nyandarua falls on the windward side. That is why a part of the cloud normally falls since the rain making-process does not materialise,” said Dr William Ndegwa from the Meteorological department.