A THUNDERSTORM accompanied by bright flashes of lightning and heavy rainfall hit Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) at midday Monday. The sudden change in the hot weather conditions took rice famers by surprise and forced them to halt harvesting.
The sky became dark and overcast and was lit by lightning flashes during heavy thunder rolls.
Some planters who had paddy on a large concrete drying floor had to quickly secure the grains in bonds to prevent wetting by rainfall.
Dams that were dry and under rehabilitation by the Regional Administration to facilitate field to factory transport become soft and muddy while fields that were already drained and dried in preparation for harvesting were flooded.
Some residents speculated that the storm could have been the tail end of a hurricane somewhere in the Caribbean.