Bizarre rain in China dumps sea creatures on city

Imagine, you are out for the day and a freak storm dumps hailstones and sea creatures on you. This is what happened in China last week.

The coastal city of Qingdao in eastern China was bettered by a massive rainstorm which unloaded hailstones and funnily sea creatures on its residents. Amidst the wind and rain, people also had shrimps and starfish fall on them.

Social media was alive with photos of the 'seafood rain'. Images showing windscreens littered with shrimps and starfishes were shared by many. To give the news a funny turn, someone even posted a fake image of an octopus falling from the sky. Pictures of hailstones as big as golf balls were also posted. Hailstones can cause extensive damage, and media reports said it caused damages to buildings and vehicles.

Though it seems bizarre, this is hardly the first time that such news has been reported from around the world. Frogs, dead birds and even spiders have been reported as falling from the sky. But yes, these animal rains are rare.

In this particular case, there are many theories going around. Some say that the creatures might have been sucked out of the sea and dropped onto the sea. Not impossible, but quite rare.

Some feel that the bizarre rain might have been the result of seafood being blown from stalls at a nearby market into the road. Social media agrees with this theory.

Though the former idea seems bizarre, it is in fact a reported case. Huge columns of swirling winds suck things from the sea before moving inland. As the winds loose speed, the creatures are dropped on land. Such events have been reported from Sri Lanka, Iran, the US and Mexico previously.