HARARE – Heavy rains triggered flash floods in Harare on Thursday causing widespread disruption, as a hailstorm swept through Manicaland Province, destroying property and crops.

Midlands State University students who were due to sit an accounting exam at Showgrounds in Harare were turned away after the hall was filled with water.

Trees fell on parked cars in some areas and at Harare Hospital, nurses battled an avalanche in the Children’s Ward as water came rushing in.

In Checheche, Manicaland, a violent hailstorm ripped through houses and shops, leaving several people injured. A Seventh Day Adventist Church building also suffered significant damage.

Elsewhere in the province, a promising tobacco crop was lashed by the hailstorm and farmers were left counting their losses.

In Makonde district, Mashonaland West, 10 pupils at Montrose farm school near Lion’s Den were struck by lightning. Six of the students were admitted to Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital where four were reported to be in a critical condition.