Residents stunned as hundreds of fish fall out of the sky over remote Australian desert town

Residents of a small outback Australian town have been left speechless after fish began falling from the sky.



Hundreds of spangled perch bombarded the 650 residents of Lajamanu, shocking local Christine Balmer, who was walking home when the strange 'weather' started.

She said: 'These fish fell in their hundreds and hundreds all over the place. The locals were running around everywhere picking them up.



Lajamanu resident Christine Balmer took this picture of some of the spangled perch she collected in a bucket after they fell out of the sky Remote: Lajamanu is 400 miles south of Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory

A history of amazing 'rainfall'

There is a long history of strange objects raining from the sky, with these strange occurrences among the most notable:

1st Century: Pliny The Elder wrote about storms of frogs and fish, foreshadowing many modern incidents. 1794: French soldiers stationed in Lalain, near Lille, reported toads falling from the sky during heavy rain.

1857: Sugar crystals as big as quarter of an inch in diameter fell over the course of two days in Lake County, California.

1876: A woman in Kentucky reported meat flakes raining from the sky. Tests found the meat was venison.

1902: Dust whipped up in Illinois caused muddy rain to fall over many north-eastern U.S. states. 1940: A tornado in Russia brought a shower of coins from the 16th Century. 1969: Golf balls fell from the sky on Punta Gorda in Florida (above).



1976: In San Luis Opisbo in California, blackbirds and pigeons rained from the sky for two days.

'The fish were all alive when they hit the ground so they would have been alive when they were up there flying around the sky.

'When I told my family, who live in another part of Australia, about the fish falling from the sky, they thought I'd lost the plot.

'But no, I haven't lost my marbles. All I can say is that I'm thankful that it didn't rain crocodiles!'

Meterologists say the incident was probably caused by a tornado. It is common for tornados to suck up water and fish from rivers and drop them hundreds of miles away.

Mark Kersemakers from the Australian Bureau of Meterology said: 'Once they get up into the weather system, they are pretty much frozen and, after some time, they are released.'

Lajamanu is located half-way between Darwin and Alice Springs, on the edge of the Tanami Desert.

This is not the first time residents of the small town have experienced fish falling out of the sky.

Resident Les Dillon, 48, said: 'In the early 1980s I was at the Alice Springs Tavern Hotel and, when I walked out the door, I saw all these little fish, fallen out of the sky.

'Yes, I had a couple of beers, so none of my friends believed me. I have rung heaps of people to let them know I wasn't drunk back then. It had really happened!'





Outback: Lajamanu is a small town with just 650 inhabitants



