Residents of remote Australian outback town were left baffled when they witnessed fish falling out of the sky like rain. According to a New York Post report, the incident happened in the town of Lajamanu, a small community in the arid Northern Territory, around 560 miles south of Darwin during a heavy spell of rain and storm.
"We've seen a big storm heading up to my community and we thought it was just rain. But when the rain started falling we've seen fish falling down as well," Central Desert councilor Andrew Johnson Japanangka told ABC News.
Mr Japanangka said the fish were still alive as they fell from the sky, and children in the town rushed to collect them and keep them in jars. Though he has witnessed the strange phenomenon many times, Mr Japanangka said it still amazes him. ''I think it's a blessing from the Lord,'' he added.
According to weather experts, incidents like these can be caused by strong updrafts, such as tornadoes, which suck water and fish from rivers. During a storm, they are carried for many kilometres before they rain from the sky.
Incidentally, the same bizarre phenomenon has taken place in the community in the past. The same thing happened at Lajamanu in 2010, and it was previously recorded in 2004 and 1974.
A local resident Penny McDonald told ABC News that she was in Lajamanu in the mid-1980s when fish rained from the sky. She claimed that streets outside her home were covered in fish at that time.
"I got up in the morning, I was working in the school at the time, and the dirt streets outside my home were covered in fish. They were small fish and there were a lot of them around. It was just amazing," she said.
Queensland Museum ichthyologist Jeff Johnson said the fish which fell in Lajamanu were known as spangled perch, or spangled grunters, among the most common freshwater fish in Australia. Meanwhile, Michael Hammer, Curator of Fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory claimed it was "not unusual" for fish to rain down alive, as long as they weren't raised too high and frozen in mid-air. He said that it depends on the local weather patterns.
