The small town that experiences Fish Rain twice a year

Raining from the sky! Weird as it may sound, but there is a place on Earth where this phenomenon actually exists. Residents of Yoro in Honduras experience this at least once or twice a year. What’s more interesting is the fact that Yoro is actually miles away from the ocean.

Reportedly, this Rain of Fish phenomenon is also called Lluvia de Peces, which has been taking place in this little town since 1800s during the months of May and June. In fact, every year, a big storm
sweeps through the town, followed by heavy rain. And after the storm passes, the roads are scattered with flapping, live fishes. 

Popularly called ‘animal rain’, this typical weather characteristic has been reported for centuries, even though no scientific definition has been able to explain it. Hundreds of fish fall during this time almost
everywhere.

If records are to go by, there have been reports of animal rain in other parts of the world too, which are generally frogs and fish. However, there were some disturbing reports from other parts of the world where the regions experienced rain of snakes, mice, alligators, spiders, jellyfish, and much more. While in most of the cases, the animals were already dead when they came crashing to the ground, whereas in some cases live animals also dropped, which later on either hopped or flew away.

  

However, this phenomenon in Yoro is so popular that people can gauge when the clouds are going to bring down fish. It seems to be strictly associated with the most potent storm of rain, and the moment it sweeps through the town, it produces a typical sound, quite turbulent but obscure. Those who witness this happening live would vow that the fish are falling from the clouds. 

Most locals believe there is a religious reason rather than a scientific one behind this incident taking place in this small town. As per a theory, there was a Catholic priest who lived in Yoro from 1856 to 1864. When he saw people starving there, he offered prayers to God to provide sustenance to them, and at the end of his prayer session, this miracle happened. So as per this story, after the priest ended his prayer, a storm came, and fish started falling from the sky. And since that time, this animal rain has been happening every year in this small town.


Another theory that tries to explain this mysterious event is that the fish are not local to the area and might be coming from as far as the Atlantic Ocean, presumably 200 km away from the town.  

Source: timesofindia