‘Snow’ destroys crops, livestock belonging to 1,500 Truka Memeka tribesmen in Western Highlands
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| “Snowing” in Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands’ central Hagen? |
‘Snow’ destroys crops, livestock belonging to 1,500 Truka Memeka tribesmen in Western Highlands
PORT MORESBY: A hailstorm pelted Western Highlands’ central Hagen on Christmas Day, damaging and destroying houses, crops and livestock belonging to some 1,500 Truka Memeka villagers.
From afar, it looked like it was snowing in Papua New Guinea but the marble-size ice fell for about 45 minutes causing extensive damage.
The rare destructive weather phenomenon was the first for the Truka Memeka tribesmen living in Kunjika Village below the Auduka mountain range.
PNG Cyber Monitor reproduced below details of the hailstorm and more pictures that were shared in Facebook:
Hailstorm ravage gardens in Hagen Central
By JAMES GUMUNOINITIALLY it looked like it was snowing on Christmas Day afternoon in Western Highlands’ central Hagen.
However, it turned out to be a destructive weather phenomenon – a hailstorm that ravaged for about 45 minutes.
The Truka Memeka tribesmen living below the Auduka mountain range were taken by surprise as it rained ice the size of marbles pelting Kunjika Village.
For some 1,500 villagers, it was a Christmas day that they want to forget.
The hailstorm damaged and destroyed all their food gardens where they had toiled their land to cultivate root crops, tree crops such as bananas, sugarcane, coffee, tobacco, and many others. Livestock were also killed by the hailstorm.
Former Evangelical Lutheran Church assistant bishop Zau Rapa told The National yesterday that this Christmas was not a good day for his people.
“The Jika tribesmen living further up and Moge tribesmen living further down were not affected. This natural disaster is targeting only us, the Truka Memeka tribes, from the Ulka council ward in the Hagen Rural local level government council,” he said.
“I returned from Christmas mass and stayed in my house when rain started falling at 2.45pm. After a minute or two, I saw marbles-size ice falling pelting us everywhere and covering the ground,” he said.
Rapa said the strong wind associated with ice continued till 3.30pm and stopped.
“It made it very difficult for anyone to go out to untie pigs, goats, and other livestock in the bush to herd them to safety in house,” he added.
Rapa said it was the first time his tribesmen experienced such a natural disaster and “we were all too frightened to go out and do anything to save our livestock”.
Rapa said that their main source of income, tobacco trees were all standing like skeletal remains.
He said coffee never grew well in higher attitude and only few people cultivated it because cherries were scarce.
“We depend on tobacco, kaukau, sugarcane, and vegetables to earn our living,” he added.
He said that a big lump of ice laid on their food gardens overnight till yesterday noon and slowly killed all their root crops.
“Our root crops will all die within the next few days. The ice also affects kaukau tubers in the ground which will be not good for human consumption because it will be affected by kaukau-borne diseases,” he lamented, adding that “it will take a long time to rebuild our lives”.
“I want to call on the provincial disaster office to visit my village and carry out an independent assessment on the damage and help us accordingly.
Ward councillor Paul Kingal and his president Wai Rapa must also intervene to help the affected people in whatever way they can.
“We are yet to compile an assessment of the extent of damage to submit to the authorities,” he added.
However, it turned out to be a destructive weather phenomenon – a hailstorm that ravaged for about 45 minutes.
The Truka Memeka tribesmen living below the Auduka mountain range were taken by surprise as it rained ice the size of marbles pelting Kunjika Village.
For some 1,500 villagers, it was a Christmas day that they want to forget.
The hailstorm damaged and destroyed all their food gardens where they had toiled their land to cultivate root crops, tree crops such as bananas, sugarcane, coffee, tobacco, and many others. Livestock were also killed by the hailstorm.
Former Evangelical Lutheran Church assistant bishop Zau Rapa told The National yesterday that this Christmas was not a good day for his people.
“The Jika tribesmen living further up and Moge tribesmen living further down were not affected. This natural disaster is targeting only us, the Truka Memeka tribes, from the Ulka council ward in the Hagen Rural local level government council,” he said.
“I returned from Christmas mass and stayed in my house when rain started falling at 2.45pm. After a minute or two, I saw marbles-size ice falling pelting us everywhere and covering the ground,” he said.
Rapa said the strong wind associated with ice continued till 3.30pm and stopped.
“It made it very difficult for anyone to go out to untie pigs, goats, and other livestock in the bush to herd them to safety in house,” he added.
Rapa said it was the first time his tribesmen experienced such a natural disaster and “we were all too frightened to go out and do anything to save our livestock”.
Rapa said that their main source of income, tobacco trees were all standing like skeletal remains.
He said coffee never grew well in higher attitude and only few people cultivated it because cherries were scarce.
“We depend on tobacco, kaukau, sugarcane, and vegetables to earn our living,” he added.
He said that a big lump of ice laid on their food gardens overnight till yesterday noon and slowly killed all their root crops.
“Our root crops will all die within the next few days. The ice also affects kaukau tubers in the ground which will be not good for human consumption because it will be affected by kaukau-borne diseases,” he lamented, adding that “it will take a long time to rebuild our lives”.
“I want to call on the provincial disaster office to visit my village and carry out an independent assessment on the damage and help us accordingly.
Ward councillor Paul Kingal and his president Wai Rapa must also intervene to help the affected people in whatever way they can.
“We are yet to compile an assessment of the extent of damage to submit to the authorities,” he added.
Hailstorm facts at a glance
A HAILSTORM is an unusual weather phenomenon in which balls of ice, called hail, fall from the sky;
HAIL is formed at high altitudes within massive clouds when super cooled water droplets adhere to each other and form layers of ice;
THE average velocity of a falling hailstone is about 106mph;
HIGHLY developed Cumulonimbus clouds need to be present to cause hailstorm. These mushroom-shaped clouds are seen during thunderstorm which can reach heights up to 65,000 feet. There must also be strong currents of air ascending through these clouds. These currents are commonly known as updrafts containing ice particles, as a large number of water droplets become solid ice at the low temperatures found at high altitudes within the massive clouds. The last remaining condition is that the clouds will need to contain high concentrations of super cooled liquid water;
IN 2010, the largest hailstone found in the US (Vivian, South Dakota) was eight inches in diameter, 18.5 inches in circumference, and weighed about two pounds. As gravity takes over, they will fall to Earth at about 106 miles per hour. The exact velocity each stone falls at will vary depending on several conditions, such as weight, air friction and collisions with other suspended objects; and
IN the opening scenes of the Hollywood movie, “The Day after Tomorrow”, a storm dropping massive hailstones caused massive damage in New York City.
Source: World of Penomena
HAIL is formed at high altitudes within massive clouds when super cooled water droplets adhere to each other and form layers of ice;
THE average velocity of a falling hailstone is about 106mph;
HIGHLY developed Cumulonimbus clouds need to be present to cause hailstorm. These mushroom-shaped clouds are seen during thunderstorm which can reach heights up to 65,000 feet. There must also be strong currents of air ascending through these clouds. These currents are commonly known as updrafts containing ice particles, as a large number of water droplets become solid ice at the low temperatures found at high altitudes within the massive clouds. The last remaining condition is that the clouds will need to contain high concentrations of super cooled liquid water;
IN 2010, the largest hailstone found in the US (Vivian, South Dakota) was eight inches in diameter, 18.5 inches in circumference, and weighed about two pounds. As gravity takes over, they will fall to Earth at about 106 miles per hour. The exact velocity each stone falls at will vary depending on several conditions, such as weight, air friction and collisions with other suspended objects; and
IN the opening scenes of the Hollywood movie, “The Day after Tomorrow”, a storm dropping massive hailstones caused massive damage in New York City.
Source: World of Penomena
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