Villagers in a west Sri Lanka scooped up buckets and buckets full of fish after thousands of the squirming little critters rained down on the village of Chilaw on May 6, 2014. Villagers said they heard something heavy on the roofs of their homes and since it wasn’t the night before Christmas, ran outside to see what the matter was. They tore open their doors and, on the way, out, grabbed buckets that they had hanging on their porches (with care) and began to scoop up as many of the tasty fish as they could [Geek Slop fishing tip: it’s much easier to catch fish when someone is throwing them at you]. It rained fish once before in Sri Lanka – back in 2012.
After Tuesday’s disruptive event, one fish, a retired, disabled medical sturgeon with no eye (his name was Fssshh) was visiting the shores near the village at the time. He told reporters:
“Never ever again will I vacation in Sri Lanka!”
The most likely explanation for the bizarre raining fish relates to tornadoes. The tornado’s rapidly rotating column of spinning air often acts like a huge vacuum cleaner. As it passes over water, especially shallow water, it can scoop up any material in the water – including fish. Scientists think that a tornado formed over Sri Lanka land and then drifted over Sri Lanka’s River systems or shallow coastal waters and sucked up the light fish into the base of the storm cloud. Later, the dizzy little fish were dumped out of the cloud along with rain.