Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Mini-tornado and massive hailstorm 'klaps' Grahamstown

I realised, only after three phonecalls from friends and an e-mail from mother dearest, that Grahamstown had been hit by a mini-tornado.(SABCnews.com) Rather embarrassing considering the fact that I am supposed to be a journalist student and so should be naturally clued up on all the disasters that hit Rhodes and the wider community. My only contribution to the strange weather is a small bruise that I managed to get in the rather vicious hailstorm that bashed Rhodes for a few minutes. The hailstorm saw students running frantically in all directions, some slipping and sliding and others entering lecture halls and tutorials sopping wet. I was one of the unlucky ones who still bathing in the bliss of my new found sandal freedom had dressed in the bare minimum and so got soaked and battered by the pieces of hail that grew larger at every downpour. But unbeknownst to us students, the Grahamstown township had been blown away while we scampered like wet rats into buildings. This shocking but exciting incident (sorry, that is the ignorant journalist coming through because I know it was not exciting for the people who have lost their homes) was broadcast on the news, together with other stories about flooding and terrible lightning storms in Port Elizabeth. Summer is definitely here, not just in form of cheerful blossoms but also in the form of weird rain and hail storms.

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